


Whatever it Takes

by Minmix



Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Drama, Ergokinesis, Getting Together, Hurt Steve Rogers, Hurt Tony Stark, Hurt/Comfort, Kidnapping, M/M, Medical Experimentation, Medical Inaccuracies, Medical Procedures, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Post-Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Steve Rogers Feels, Team as Family, Telekinesis, Telepathy, Tony Stark Feels
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-17
Updated: 2019-09-02
Packaged: 2020-06-30 04:53:18
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 25,299
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19845982
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Minmix/pseuds/Minmix
Summary: During a mission out to take out a HYDRA Base, Steve Rogers was taken down with what it seemed like a normal laser blast.With Steve brushing it off like normal, Tony and Steve spent time together for a movie night in the tower. Everything went wrong.Kidnapped and forced to participate in a medical experimentation, Steve had to learn to control his new accidental powers. And with the possibility of losing his loved one, Tony fights to keep Steve next to him.No spoilers for Endgame. It takes place between Captain America: The Winter Solider and Avengers: Age of Ultron.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> DISCLAMER:  
> The Avengers is the property of Walt Disney Studios, Paramount Studios, and Marvel Studios. This work was created purely for enjoyment. No money was made, and no infringement was intended.
> 
> Rating: Mature (Language, Medical procedures)
> 
> First fanfiction ever written about Avengers. I always love Hurt/Comfort Stony stories, so just an attempt of hurting someone. Feel free to give any comments so I can improve on my writing :) 
> 
> Shout out to my friends for beta-reading my story :))

**_Chapter 1_ **

The late morning rays of sunlight penetrated through the clear glass windows of a certain room of the Avengers Tower in North America.

“JARVIS do me a favor will you? Shut the blinds.” Tony groaned as he turned to face down on the king-sized bed, covering the ultra-soft pillow over his head.

“Will do sir. I do have to remind you that Ms Potts will be coming in this afternoon.”

Tony was tired. _Really tired._

He did pull an almost all-nighter to finish his design for the new Mark XLIII. “Urgh… Why is she coming here for again?” Tony turned to face the sleek grey ceiling.

“About the upcoming Directors’ Meeting, sir. Ms Potts would like to go through some of the paperwork with you before you attend. Whether you will attend that meeting is a question yet to be answered.” JARVIS answered with a hint of sarcasm. “Wow you know me so well JARVIS.”

The right side of his bed was already cold. “Is Steve in the facility or he went out for a jog as usual?” Tony sighed.

“Captain Rogers is in the facility. He had returned from his run and have already taken a shower.” Tony mentally cursed himself for sleeping in as he turned to bury his face in Steve’s pillow. He could have at least joined in or peeked.

“Sleepyhead you finally woke up?” A heavy figure piled on top of him as his fingers brushed his hair.

“Wow Steve since when you give me a morning wake-up cuddle?” Tony smiled; voice muffled by the pillow.

“Since forever. And for your information, it’s already well past 11 am. Pepper is coming in the afternoon shouldn’t you at least have your brunch before she drops by?” Steve breathed into Tony’s neck. Tony turned around and stared into the bright blue ocean eyes.

“Alright. Alright. Captain’s orders. Aren’t you strict today?” Tony mused as he smirked, faking a salute sloppily.

Steve casually pecked Tony’s lips as he pushed himself off his other partner. “There, are you happy?” Steve replied.

“No, I am so disappointed Stevie.” Tony complained as he sat up and pulled the bright blue sweater-cladded Steve towards himself as they both melt into a kiss.

“There. Much better. No complains right there?” Tony whispered as he broke of the kiss and stroke Steve’s cheeks. Steve as usual was blushing red as a tomato.

“N-no… I don’t.” Steve stammered and cleared his throat. “Go and wash up, I have already made you brunch.”

Tony hummed in agreement as he headed to the bathroom. Steve smiled at the leaving figure as he tidied up the bed.

* * *

“Hey Tony. Finally decided to get your ass out of your bed?” A voice sounded as Tony walked into the common living area.

“Oh Clint. When did you and Nat come back from your recon mission in Hong Kong?”

“Today morning. I took a nap but Nat still having the jet lag and is currently in her room taking her beauty sleep. I wouldn’t blame her, she got too over excited since she was got back onto the field.” Clint answered.

A week ago, Natasha got a concussion from a normal mission of a so-called normal armed robbery back in the city. After waking up, she spent some time cursing those robbers for using hostages as a shield. Clint spent most of his time accompanying Natasha so she wouldn’t feel lonely as she was on a medical leave despite insisting, she’s fine.

“Your boyfriend is calling you from the kitchen, go on ahead.” Clint smirked. Tony threw him a glare as he strolled towards the kitchen.

“Hey Tony.” Steve called as he felt someone wrapped his arms around his waist. Steve was not even blushing anymore; since they went public about their relationship to the Avengers and to the rest of the world, everyone has been giving them their well wishes for a long-lasting relationship. Well… the fan girls and fan boys of the couple are the only exception.

“Where’s James and Sam?” Tony questioned; voice muffled by the broad back.

“Bucky and Sam are sparring down at the gym. Well, apparently Sam wanted to improve on his hand-to-hand combat. I am here busy fixing you brunch before you meet up with Pepper, Nat was dealing with her jet lag and Clint just lazy to do so, Bucky offered to be his sparring partner.” Steve answered as he plated the freshly prepared pancake. “Here. Strawberries?”

“Yeah. Then where is Thor?” Tony asked as he begin cutting his pancake stack.

“Apparently I got sent to voicemail. JARVIS mentioned Thor leaving a “Going on what you humans call a date with Jane.”” Steve replied, signing quotation marks with both hands while mimicking Thor. Tony laughed, nearly choking on his pancakes.

It’s hard to imagine that the current Steve Rogers and _the_ Captain America are one. Since after the Battle of New York, the recently thawed Steve was invited to live in the now Avengers Tower along with Bruce, Clint, Natasha and Thor. Despite a lot of friction between the two, they quickly came to an understanding and became friends.

After the encounter with Killian, Tony decided to go separate ways with Pepper, knowing that he is just threatening Pepper’s safety with his superhero lifestyle, deciding this will be the best for her. Steve spent a lot of time with Tony; despite being unfamiliar with advance technology is trying his best to compare the different armor designs, drawing and sketching in the corner of Tony’s lab, providing Tony will all the emotional support. Tony slowly developed feelings for Steve. During and after SHIELD’s collapse, they decided to be together. It already has been roughly a year since then.

Steve’s old pal, James “Bucky” Barnes, as well as another friend he met on his daily jogging route, Sam Wilson, were the new addition to the team after SHIELD’s collapse. Ever since then, the Avengers would commonly spend time together while safeguarding the security of the world the promise they kept.

* * *

“Hey Pep. How are you these days?” Tony hugged Pepper as Pepper entered the common living area.

“As fine as I can be Tony, other than being really stressed out trying to manage YOUR company which YOU are supposed to be running.” Pepper remarked as she returned the hug.

“Hi Steve.” Pepper proceeded to hug Steve as Steve hugged back.

“Nice to see you doing well Pepper.”

“How’s the relationship with Tony?” Pepper questioned Steve with a hint of sarcasm. Tony shot them both a look of mock disbelief.

“Well, you know. The usual.” Steve answered, obviously ignoring the looks that Tony gave.

“I am going to leave you both alone for these Stark Industries thing. This is obviously not my area of expertise.” Steve gave Pepper a nod.

“Tony behave yourself. You will get it from me if Pepper or JARVIS complains to me.” Steve turned to Tony before glaring at him sternly before softening into his smile.

“What could possibly go wrong Stevie? You don’t trust me?” Tony held his heart in a mock pain as Steve prepared to leave.

“You are the genius. You figure out yourself.” Steve replies as he waved behind his back. Tony shut his mouth before turning to face Pepper again with a face of disbelief. Pepper smiled, returning a shrug.

* * *

“Finally… a time for both of us together.” Tony yawned as he entered the room and sat down next to Steve, leaning against Steve’s shoulder as Steve sketches a pencil sketch of the New York skyline directly outside of their shared room window.

“Tony, would you like to go out for dinner together tonight? Just the both of us. You and me. There’s this restaur-”

“Yeah let’s go.” Tony interrupted Steve’s blabbering.

Steve look up from his sketchbook with his reddened cheeks as his blue eyes widen, meeting with dark brown eyes. “Tony…”

Tony smiled. Both lips met with one another as they melted into a kiss. They broke apart gasping for oxygen as they stared into each other’s eyes.

“Sorry to interrupt the moment, sir.” Both jumped from the sudden voice. “Doctor Banner is asking for you and Captain Rogers in the meeting room. I’m afraid it’s an emergency.”

Steve cleared his throat and answered, “Tell Bruce that Tony and I will be making our way down.”

“So much for having time for ourselves.” Tony sighed as he pulled Steve’s outreached hand.

* * *

“Everyone’s here Bruce. Start whenever you are ready.” Natasha reported as Tony and Steve walked into the meeting room or information headquarters in Avengers Tower.

“There was a recent spike of the unique energy signature around this area in Sokovia.” Bruce reported. “Courtesy of Tony Stark’s tech.” He added while smirking at Tony.

Thor sat up straighter than before. “Loki’s scepter… it might be the one that had caused that energy spike.”

“Yeah that might be the case, and using stealth tech, it has been discovered that it is one of HYDRA’s research Base.” Bruce continued.

“And it’s Strucker we are talking about here. Nothing good can come from it.” Natasha supplied.

“Looks like we are going to hand his butt to him and get the scepter back to where it belongs” Clint cracked his hands as he stretched his arms before him.

“Okay. 5 minutes. Get what you need and meet at quinjet.” Steve ordered sternly.

Everyone left to get prepared as Bruce went to the quinjet and prepares everything for takeoff. Well, he doesn’t really need to prepare anything except his headphones and a few energy bars. Transformation as much as he dislikes it takes out a lot of energy from him. Sam and Bucky had left a few hours ago to another country where sightings of HYDRA agents had been reported to investigate, thus won’t be joining this mission.

* * *

“Stay safe and focused okay Steve? Don’t do something stupid. I know you have the serum running through your veins but…” Tony changed into his under-armor shirt and pants as Steve changed into his uniform.

“Shouldn’t I be the one telling you that Tony?” Steve replied as he zipped up the reinforced under suit on.

Tony who have already finished changing walked towards Steve as Steve pull out his outer uniform top from the equipment closet in their room. Steve held the uniform in his hand as he returned the worried glance from Tony with a smile.

“We’ll be fine Tony. It’s normal to go in with a certain risk that members of the team will get hurt. But if we don’t go in, there will be civilians at risk. This job…” Steve tightened his fists on his uniform as he glanced down at his uniform.

“I know. Looks like all of us deserve a break occasionally.” Tony replied as he held Steve’s hands.

“Once HYDRA has been flushed out, the whole team should just go for a getaway for a week.” Tony smiled while looking into Steve’s eyes as he used his thumb to caressed Steve’s knuckles.

“Come on the team is waiting for us Captain. Hurry.”

* * *

“Shit!” Tony cursed.

“Language!” Steve scolded. “JARVIS, what’s the view from upstairs?”

It was certainly Strucker’s research base. “Loki’s scepter must be here. Strucker can’t mount this defence without it. At long last.” Thor grunted as he knocked out a soldier.

“‘At long last’ is lasting a little long, boys.” Natasha voiced out.

“Yeah. I think we lost the element of surprise.” Clint mused while taking cover behind a tree.

“Wait a second. No one else is going to deal with the fact that Cap just said ‘Language’?” Tony questioned.

“I know…” Steve sighed as he flipped his motorcycle into an incoming jeep. “Just slipped out.”

“Sir. The city is taking fire.” JARVIS’ voice ringed out in Tony’s headset.

“Well, we know that Strucker is not going to worry about civilian casualties. Send in the Iron Legion.” Tony replied.

* * *

“The force field is down people.” Tony reported as he flew into the base.

A blur just hit Clint into the snow. “You didn’t see that coming?” the figure disappeared again.

“Guys, we have an Enhanced in the field.” Clint reported.

“Clint look out!” Steve threw himself over Clint trying to prevent the bunker’s cannon from shooting him. Steve grunted as the nearby soldier shot him in his abdomen.

“Cap!” Clint shouted in alarm before taking out the bunker with an explosive arrow and an arrow to the weapon the soldier used.

“Steve’s hit!” Clint reported in a hurry as he opened his portable med kit and held a clean cloth over Steve’s abdomen. Steve gasped out in pain as Clint held pressure over the bleeding wound.

“Steve’s modified uniform is supposed to protect him from most repulsion tech!” Tony’s voice ringed out obviously worried because of Steve’s injury. “I’m on my way to your location. Hold on.”

“Wait!” Steve groaned out.

“The soldier that shot him- Don’t move Steve.” Clint answered as he held Steve’s shoulder to prevent him from moving. “Was deliberately aiming for Steve. He was holding a different weapon.” Clint continued.

“Tony… I’m fine.” Steve groaned out as he held his finger to the device in his ear. “Secure the scepter with Thor first. Clint and Nat can take care of me and bring me to the jet.”

“But…” Tony rebutted.

“Do it Tony! Please.” Steve replied as he groaned in pain after Clint reapplied pressure on it.

“Tch… Thor come on.” Tony replied.

Hulk landed next to the pair. “Hulk angry. Cap hurt.”

“Easy there Big Guy. Can you help bring Steve to quinjet? I go ahead and infiltrate the base.” Clint replied, nodding to the approaching Natasha.

Hulk grunted in agreement before cradling Steve up with unusual gentleness, walking straight to the jet to avoid jostling Steve too much. Natasha went back to the quinjet ahead to prepare a place for Steve to be laid on.

* * *

Hulk gently laid Steve on the portable mattress available on the quinjet and then left the jet. It was meant on most occasions for members of the team to sleep during long flight duration, more occasionally used when there are members injured. Steve grunted as Natasha reapplied pressure the nearly clotted wound on Steve’s abdomen.

“Hey Steve, how you are doing?” Natasha asked in concern, eyes on Steve’s face filled with worry.

“Been better.” Steve replied. “Hulk out there releasing his frustrations?”

“Yeah.” Natasha glanced out of the jet.

“Go get Bruce back, will you?” Steve said as he closed his eyes, turning his head to lean against the pillow. “

Already here, Steve.” Bruce replied while pulling on a T-shirt as he walked up to the pair.

“Bruce.” Natasha nodded as she handed the situation over to Bruce.

Bruce held the cloth that was on Steve’s abdomen. All members are required to be first aid trained, but Bruce is the closest to a doctor in the team. Natasha went to get the other medical supplies at the other area in the jet.

“How’s Tony and the rest of the team progress?” Steve asked as he opened his eyes looking at Bruce inspecting the wound. 

“Steve you don’t have to worry about the team. How’s the pain?” Bruce stressed.

“Well it’s more painful than a bullet wound surprisingly. What’s that weapon anyway? What are the others doing?” Steve replied leaning back against the pillow.

“Thor and Clint both reported another female enhanced individual and got Strucker, they are currently on their way back to the jet. Tony is saving Strucker’s data from the base and found something underground. So far, you are the only casualty.” Bruce replied.

He removed Steve’s inner, outer uniform as well as his undershirt as he begins bandaging up the wound that has already begun healing.

“I’m going to give you the painkillers that Tony and I cooked up recently, so take a rest, will you?”

“But the team is still ou-”

“Rest.” Bruce reprimanded, shutting Steve up. “Don’t pretend that Tony didn’t notice that you barely had any sleep from recurring nightmares. Tony told me about it too. The team is safe, the mission is nearly over.”

Bruce then inserted an IV needle into Steve’s arm hooking up to a bag containing nutrients that his serum needs to heal the wound together with painkillers. Bruce then pulled a blanket over him and left Steve to rest.

* * *

“Steve!”

Tony retracted his helmet while he ran up the ramp of the jet. All the other members shushed Tony as Clint nodded towards Steve’s direction. Tony passed the scepter to Thor before coming out of his armor. He ran up next to Steve who was sleeping due to the painkillers. Natasha was already preparing the quinjet for take-off back to Avengers Tower.

“He’s fine for now Tony.” Bruce comforted as he came up next to him and patted his shoulder. “I gave him the special cocktail of painkillers we came up with last time, now he is just resting. His wound had already stopped bleeding and has already started healing.”

“Clint did you see the weapon that injured Steve?” Tony asked Clint while he took the seat nearby Steve.

“Saw it. I may or may not have destroyed it without thinking…” Clint trailed off as he scratched his head in embarrassment.

“Tony you are worrying too much, let Steve’s body heal by itself, we will run tests when we get back to the Tower okay?” Natasha comforted from the cockpit. “Let’s head back. We are done here.”

“Yeah, first we have to threaten things out from Strucker.” Thor remarked, throwing a look at the unconscious person in question propped up on the jet seat.

* * *

Tony stared at the sleeping figure back in Avengers Tower.

The team got back from the mission back around 15 minutes ago, they managed to get Steve to the infirmary in the tower without waking him up. Bruce was relieved to see that the special painkiller was working well without complications. As promised by Natasha, they have already taken blood samples and Bruce is currently running through the samples back in his lab. The team left the two alone and wash up from the battle.

Tony grasped the warm hand.

“So much for wanting to go out on the date later tonight huh Steve? I was looking forward to it…” Tony complained softly while caressing the hand with his thumb.

“Sorry… I didn’t expect this to happen too Tony.”

“Steve!” Tony jumped out of his chair, surprised. “Sorry did I wake you up?” Tony whispered as he pecked Steve’s cheeks.

“Nah… you didn’t. I was already awake for a few minutes I think.” Steve cleared his throat. Tony helped Steve up as he brought a cup of water with a straw.

“You worried me so much. What happened to staying safe?” Tony scolded.

“Tony it’s just a normal superficial injury, I get back on my feet in a few hours. We still can go for dinner together.” Steve rebutted.

“But you should rest more, you shouldn’t push yourself.” Tony replied. “Don’t force me to knock you out with tetrodotoxin B that didn’t work on Hulk.”

“You do know it’s a _neurotic_ that slows the pulse to 1 beat per minute, right?” Bruce countered as he walked towards the two. “Looks like Steve is fine, Tony. His blood work has no significant problems. I just need to check and re-bandage his wound.”

“Define ‘ _no significant problems’_. There are problems, aren’t there?” Tony clarified as he glanced at Bruce who was removing the bandages. “Steve come on, seriously listen to me, you should stay here for tonight, we can have that date tomorrow.”

“I promised that it will be today. I even booked a table-” Steve sucked in a breath.

“Sorry, I just want to make sure it’s clean. And quit moving.” Bruce apologized.

“It’s okay. Since I knew for sure you would agree with me before I even asked you out Tony.” Steve continued.

“Then cancel the booking and stay here. I can just order takeaway for everyone. It’s Shawarma Saturday.” Tony refused.

“Can you leave the couple bickering to after I’m out of here? But Tony’s right you should stay here in the tower even though the wound is already almost fully healed.” Bruce tightened the bandage. “The blood work does indicate Steve has low blood count and sugar for him, Tony. Just rest and more food, he will be fine tomorrow. All done bandaging.”

“Doctor’s orders Steve. JARVIS, cancel the booking Steve made and order Shawarma to be delivered here. Inform the others about it.”

“Will do sir.”

Tony noticed Steve’s disappointment face and gave him a peck on his cheeks. “Okay, let’s catch up on a movie you haven’t watch tonight, just the both of us, alright? After Shawarma.” Tony comforted. Steve hummed in agreement as they both gazed into each other’s eyes.

Bruce cleared his throat, snapping the both out of stance. “I’ll leave you lovebirds alone. I’ll come back to check on you later Steve.”

“T-Thanks Bruce.” Steve stammered, face significantly red from embarrassment. Bruce laughed as he walked off.

* * *

Steve went back to sleep after Bruce left as his body went into high repair mode fixing his wound. Tony took the opportunity to clean up and brought his Starkpad to accompany Steve to continue working on his new suit. Bruce came back an hour later to remove the IV from Steve.

A pair of worried Sam and Bucky that returned from their stealth mission and dropped by to visit Steve while bugging Tony about Steve’s injuries. Steve was wakened up because of the bickering between the three and was visibly annoyed at the three of them. Shawarma soon arrived and saved Tony just in time. With Bucky’s help, they helped Steve to the common area as the group of four joined the rest of team that has already gathered.

The team debriefed the two missions over shawarma and proceeded to talk about other topics. Thor and Clint were competing against one another in a mobile game while Tony was taking care of Steve’s food. Sam, Natasha and Bucky were sharing about combat skills in another conversation.

“Geez, oh my you suck Thor.” Clint laughed as he stretched his arms above his head.

“Hey, Steve. Clint just said a bad language word.” Sam informed Steve.

“You told them that, Natasha?” Steve sighed as he face palmed, before shooting a cracked-up Tony a glare. Natasha shrugged.

Soon everyone finished and retired to their rooms, well apart from Thor and Clint who are still cursing at each other over the game. Steve went to clean up before meeting Tony at the cinema room that Tony obviously have installed in the tower after Tony promising Steve.

* * *

“Have you seriously not watched ‘Frozen _'_? It’s so popular that its products are _everywhere_.” Tony questioned Steve.

“‘Frozen’. Ice. What do you think?” Steve argued.

“Sorry…” Tony apologized. “Come on, it’s not about _that_ it’s a movie for children. JARVIS for the benefit for Steve please start playing 'Frozen'.”

The movie started rolling as Tony pulled Steve next to him on the couch. “If you are uncomfortable, I am always here with you. If you can’t take it, we can turn it off immediately. Just enjoy this movie alright?” Tony whispered into Steve’s hair as he takes a whiff of Steve’s just washed, slightly damp hair.

“Alright…”

Halfway through the movie, Tony found out that Steve had already fallen asleep soundly on his shoulder. Smiling, he pulled the comforter tighter around them.

“Injuries takes out a lot him from you huh…” Tony whispered as he brushed the golden bangs that had fallen against Steve’s eyelids.

However, Tony noticed that Steve was warmer than usual, warm even for him.

“JARVIS, what’s Steve’s temperature?” Tony questioned, all the alarms going off in his head signaling that something is wrong.

“103.5 F and increasing, sir.”

“WHAT?” Tony shouted in alarm. JARVIS at this point had automatically stopped the movie. "WHY DIDN'T YOU INFORM ME? I'm going to have to take a look at the emergency protocols again. " 

“Steve, wake up!” Tony shook Steve by the shoulder and gently patted Steve's right cheek, trying to rouse the super soldier from hopefully his sleep, not unconsciousness. Steve opened his eyes momentarily and met Tony’s worried eyes and looked at Tony’s with half-lidded eyes.

“Tony… I think something is wrong with…” Steve whispered before his eyes slipped shut and went limp against Tony without finishing his sentence.

“Steve hey! Hey! Don’t scare me like this!” Tony shook Steve but to no avail. “JARVIS my suit!” Tony stood up and rested Steve against the couch pillow before pulling the comforter off. Tony was in the suit in seconds and cradled Steve in his arms.

“Alert Bruce! Tell him something is wrong with Steve!” Tony blasted towards the infirmary. “Tell him that I am taking Steve to the infirmary!”

  
_Please hang on Steve...._


	2. Chapter 2

_**Chapter 2** _

Long seconds later, Tony arrived at the infirmary in the tower. Thanks to JARVIS, Bruce was already there, obviously alarmed and stood there next to a vacant bed that was prepared. JARVIS have also taken the initiative to alert the other avengers. The team was in a mess, everyone was worried after the stunt Steve had pulled just hours ago.

“Tony!” everyone called out as Iron Man busted into the infirmary.

Their eyes were directed straight to the figure that Tony was laying on the bed. Everyone is shocked. The super soldier serum is the ultimate serum that protects Steve from anything and everything. Everyone evacuated the infirmary to the common living area to give Bruce some space to help Steve. They wanted to help, but they knew they will just be getting in the way as Bruce and Tony are trying to figure out what’s wrong with their friend.

“JARVIS, temperature?” At this point, Tony was on auto-pilot mode. Steve needs him right now. He can’t afford to blank out. He’s Tony Stark.

“106.7 F. Symptoms of hyperpyrexia for Captain Roger’s biology has reached. Vitals showing signs of tachycardia and abnormally high hypertension.”

“Fuck!” “Shit!” Bruce and Tony cursed after JARVIS’s reply.

“Tony, we have to cool him down in the ice bath, we can’t afford for his temperature to go any higher!” Bruce urged.

“Bruce are you seriously suggesting that?! You know how Steve is with-” Tony spitted out.

“I KNOW!” Bruce argued. Traces of green appeared on Bruce’s neck as it slowly disappeared. “We have no other way! Tony, we must. You can keep Steve calm long enough. It’s not the time for a debate right now!”

“Tch… Jarvis prepare an ice bath right now!” With a face of mixed emotions, Tony still in his armor, carried Steve up who was still unconscious, face flushed. _“How long has it been?_ _Please be alright Steve…”_ keep repeating in his head as he chanted on the way to the bathroom; passing by the shocked Avengers in the common room.

“Nat! James! Help get instant ice packs! Clint! Sam! Prepare normal levels of acetaminophen and ibuprofen IV drip! Thor get a larger bed from somewhere!” Bruce requested and followed Tony into the bathroom.

When Bruce arrived, Tony was already out of the armor, kneeling next to the tub, holding an ice-cold cloth to Steve’s forehead as Steve’s head rested on his shoulder. Tony’s stroked Steve’s hair to help calm Steve down ignoring the fact Steve still showed no signs of regaining consciousness.

“Bruce, I think the blast may have tampered with the serum. That’s my guess.” Tony whispered, eyes never leaving Steve’s form.

“I still hope that is not the case…” Bruce replied, taking Steve’s soaked arm and drying it off while uncapping the needle with his mouth.

* * *

“JARVIS, what’s Steve’s temperature?” Tony asked, still worried that Steve was out cold despite a few minutes have passed that he was placed in the ice bath. Bruce left with the blood sample he had taken to his lab for analysis as well as informing the other members of Steve’s current condition while Tony stayed behind.

“104 F and dropping. Vitals have started to stabilize. Advice for ice bath treatment for approximate 5 more minutes.” JARVIS replied, with a tinge of worry behind the mechanical voice. “Thank you, J.,” “My pleasure, sir.”

Tony changed the already warm cloth for the 3rd time. It was then there was movement behind Steve’s closed eyelids. “Steve? Can you hear me?” Tony whispered as he stroked Steve’s hair with his right hand, still holding the cloth with his left.

“It’s cold… always so cold in the ice. I have…. always been alone.” Steve muttered through half-lidded eyes.

 _Hallucinations? Flashbacks? That’s not good._ Tony’s grip on the cloth tightened.

“Steve, baby. It’s okay. You are not alone anymore. I’m here.” Tony whispered as he continued stroking his hair, trying to calm him down. Steve’s eyes widened as his consciousness starts to come back.

“Tony…?” “Hey.”

“No please! Not the ice. Please Tony get me out, I don’t want to go back. I don’t want to!” Steve started panicking as he tries to fight his way out of the tub.

“Steve! Hey! Stop! I’m with you! It’s okay!” Tony shouted, throwing the towel into the tub water as he tried to hold Steve down. However, despite being weakened, Steve with his serum-enhanced muscles can easily overpower Tony’s.

“Let me out! I don’t want to be in here! Please Tony! Please!” Steve whimpered as he started shivering. Tony heart broke, as he held onto Steve’s fighting arms.

“Steve, I know. You need it. You really need it. Just a while more okay? Come on, I’m here with you. I wouldn’t leave you anymore. I promise” Tony comforted. Steve stopped fighting as he buried his head between Tony’s neck and shoulder, tears unknowingly flowing out of his eyes. Tony hugged his head with his arm he unconsciously shed tears as well.

“Sir, Captain Rogers’ temperature has dropped to 100.3 F. You can take Captain Rogers out of the tub. I informed Doctor Banner and is currently on the way.” Steve had fallen asleep again, hopefully, due to fatigue. Tony hummed in acknowledgement as he gently laid Steve’s head on the folded towel at the side of the tub as he suited up. He took the nearby towels and lifted Steve out of the tub.

* * *

The team except Bruce gathered outside Steve’s infirmary room. Everyone was tired, looking grim and obviously worried as they look at Bruce and Steve through the window, glancing at Steve’s prone form as Bruce hooked Steve up to multiple lines and monitors. Tony just stood in front of the window, hands against the window as he stared on. Quietly. Natasha and Sam walked forward to give reassuring squeeze to his shoulders as Tony stared on. They are worried about Steve, but out of all of them, it is hitting Tony the hardest, making them worried for Tony as well.

“He’s going to be fine Tony. You know how stubborn Steve is.” Clint comforted. “Yeah Tony, that punk will never stand down from a fight ever since I knew him 75 years ago.” Bucky added on. Tony smiled as he turned around, facing the team.

“Well the good news is, Steve is not in danger anymore. We will let Steve have as much as rest he can get. I gave him sedatives as well as fever-reducing medicines. We must keep that fever under control.” Bruce informed as he came out of Steve’s room. “The bad news is, so far, there’s nothing in his blood work. No virus, no bacteria, no parasite, nothing.” Bruce face turned a shade darker as he scrolled through his findings on the Starkpad.

“Then what do you think Steve’s body is fighting?” Tony asked. “Fever is the one mechanism that the body uses to “burn” off any lingering shit in the body.”

“Steven have the magic potion coursing through his veins, right? Wouldn’t that help?” Thor questioned.

“Unless…” Bucky whispered. “There’s something wrong with the serum…” Natasha finished.

Everyone turned to look at Steve, who was unconscious on the bed, cheeks flushed red; surrounded by instant ice packs buried under the blanket as a wet cloth rested on his forehead.

“I have nothing definite at all at this moment, I will have to run more tests on his blood, on his serum. I need time.” Bruce apologised. “I’ll help out.” A voice voiced out. Bruce turned to look at Tony.

“I know, I’m not the field expert, but I can’t just sit next to Steve doing nothing. I am Tony Stark. I’m a Stark. I am a genius. I have to help.” Tony continued. Bruce was stunned at Tony’s newfound drive. “I know Bruce, you are the leading expert on this planet when it comes to the super soldier serum. We are mad scientists. The best chance to help Steve on this ordeal.” Tony squeezed and patted Bruce’s shoulder offering support.

“You’re strong Tony…” Bruce smiled. _No, I’m not… I just, don’t want to lose Steve._

“Nat, Clint find out what weapon struck Steve if possible. Clint I would be kissing you right now if you haven’t destroyed that weapon.” Tony told the pair of master assassins, visibly ticked off at Clint.

* * *

The clock on the bedside cabinet rolled over to 3.10am.

Tony sat next to Steve’s bed for the second time in the course of 24 hours. Steve’s temperature had been maintaining 102 F for the past hour. Bruce is currently still analyzing the basis of Steve’s serum. Something about DNA markers and some other biological terms that Tony didn’t catch most of it. Since Steve has been knocked out with _normal_ levels of sedatives, _thank goodness Bruce had his suspicions and used normal human levels instead of Steve’s usual sedatives;_ Tony had been the one compensating with his insomnia. Bruce had suggested that since he can’t help much during the analysis, he should get some rest or at least accompany Steve. That’s how Tony found himself in this room.

Tony is scared and worried. Steve has never been in such a bad state for this long, ever since the stunt that Steve had pulled when he, Sam and Maria prevented the assassination of innocent people by HYDRA. Bruce and he included. Flashbacks to the past where he saw Steve lying on the surgical table, while the doctors tried to save his life came flooding his head. He told himself that he doesn’t ever want to see Steve in that state again.

“You know, Steve… Sometimes I just want bundle you up in bubble wrap and kidnap you to some secluded island with me so that we can get away from this superhero thing.” Tony whispered. It doesn’t matter whether Steve can hear him or not. Tony took the cloth and soak it in the ice water before replacing back to its original position. “Everyone’s tired… just want a simple time off or vacation. Maybe even a normal life outside all of these if possible.”

“Tony.” Tony turned back to find Clint and Natasha standing at the door.

Tony sighed as he stood up from the chair and stretched. “You guys look like shit.”

“Like you are the one to talk.” Clint rebutted. “How’s Steve?”

“Well, so far no change, from the physical appearance. Internal wise? I don’t know…”

The three of them turned towards Steve. “So… no weapons or clues to find out what the shit happened to Steve?” Tony questioned, eyes never leaving from the figure.

“We can’t find any weapon that struck Steve with. They must have destroyed the remaining duplicates. The data files about their experiments have also been erased.” Natasha grimaced.

“Yeah about that. I have totally _not_ forgotten to tell you guys I copied it. I already went through the data I managed to get hold of, Strucker must have started erasing their experimental data since they started fighting back.” Tony admitted.

“Well since we are on that topic, when was Strucker capable of human enhancement?” Clint asked.

“You guys had a long day. Everyone did. It’s late. Go ahead and rest, we will discuss with the others in the morning, shall we?” Tony suggested. Natasha and Clint nodded, each encouraging Tony in their own way before bidding the couple a good night.

After the assassins left the room, Tony went back to his position. “Hey J, how’s Bruce?”

“Here. Tony, we are right to suspect about something wrong with Steve’s serum.” Bruce verified, whipping out the findings on the Starkpad he was holding. Bruce’s face turned a shade darker than it already is, accompanied with fatigue, as he sighed. “His DNA marker for his serum is off. And judging by how it is mutating at every blood sample I have taken…” Bruce trailed off.

“He’s going to get worse?” Tony clenched the limp hand on the bed, eyes glistened as he cursed under his breath.

“I am going to do the best I can to find out the root cause, for now the mutation rate is not that high, I believe we still have time to formulate a plan with the rest of the team.” Bruce said, squeezing Tony’s shoulder and patting his back. “I am going to take away the sedatives, I don’t want to tax Steve’s body any longer in his condition.”

With that, Bruce took another blood sample, mingled with his IV before leaving Steve’s room.

Tony sat in silence as he listened to the constant beeping of Steve’s monitor. The proof that Steve is still with him. “Hey J, assemble the team at first light.”

“Will do sir. Sir, I advise you to rest while you still can. If there are any complications with Captain Rogers’ condition, I will alert you.”

“Thanks JARVIS.” Tony leaned his head next to Steve’s hand before drifting off to a light sleep.

* * *

Someone was stroking his hair softly.

Tony blinked as he cleared out sleep from his eyes. He must have fallen asleep not for long since it was still dark out. _Wait…_

“Steve!” Tony jumped up, ignoring the black dots filling his vision from the sudden change in blood pressure in his brain.

“God, Tony. Don’t shout. My head is still ringing.” Steve hissed, frowning.

“Sorry. Sorry.” Tony apologized, voice tuning down to a whisper as he sat back down. “How you feel?” Tony asked, eyes welling up with tears as he strokes Steve’s head.

“Feel like shit.” Steve murmured, successfully cracking Tony up.

“Weren’t you the one that was asking people to mind their language less than 12 hours ago?” Tony blurted out as he wiped the tears from his eyes. Steve smiled as he also started giggling.

“Tony you should go sleep in our bed, don’t sleep here, it’s not good for your back.” Steve croaked as he cleared his throat from the lack of usage.

“Are you seriously worrying about me right now Captain worrywart?” Tony scoffed, pouring a cup of water before placing a straw in the cup. “You should worry more about yourself and stop pulling this crap on us. Here…” Steve took a few sips of the water before Tony placed it back onto the table and glanced to look at the monitors.

“There’s something wrong with the serum isn’t there.”

“Steve…”

“Tony. Please.”

“It’s so unfair for you to be pulling your puppy eyes with me.”

“Tony.”

“Yeah. There is.” Tony confessed as he sat back down, eyes narrowing in determination. “But we have every big brain there is to help figure out what’s wrong.” Tony trailed off, eyes softening as he clenched Steve’s hand, breaking eye contact as he looked down at their interlocked hands.

“So please…” Steve sucked in a breath when tears started falling out of Tony’s eyes, falling onto the sheets and their hands. “Don’t leave me, Steve. Not when everyone else haven’t given up.”

“You know me Tony.” Steve squeezed Tony’s hand. “I don’t ever stand down from a fight without giving my best.”

* * *

At 7.15 am, the team crowded around the common living area; the middle of the room projected Steve’s condition over the course of 7 hours since the first symptom appeared. Steve went to sleep as soon as he promised Tony about not giving up, it has already been 2 hours since then. Tony managed to take a light nap before cleaning up and meeting with the rest of the team.

Tony had urged JARVIS not to contact Pepper. But since Pepper turned up hugging him as soon as she saw him, it is obvious that JARVIS went against Tony and contacted Pepper regardless of what Tony will do to him later.

“So far other than the persistent fever, there’s nothing wrong with Steve’s current condition.” Bruce started. “However, the corrupted serum in his bloodstream has been increasing for the past few hours, now it’s at 2.15%. It’s only going to increase overtime. I had JARVIS to help me keep an eye on Steve 24/7 and to inform everyone if there are changes to his condition. So, any luck finding what caused the mutation to Steve’s serum?”

“No traces of information left on the weapon that did this at all. All erased.” Natasha informed. “But Clint and I managed to threaten the information out of the scientists there.” Everyone shuddered as Natasha flicked the information out of her Starkpad to the projection.

“Strucker has been conducting human enhancement using Loki’s scepter for the past year. So far only two survived.” Natasha continued. “Pietro and Wanda Maximoff. Twins. Orphaned at 10 when a shell collapsed their apartment building. His thing is increased metabolism, improved thermal homeostasis. Her thing is neuroelectric interfacing, telekinesis and metal manipulation.” Clint finished.

“Basically, he’s fast and she’s weird.” Tony dismissed the faces of confusion in the room. “Hey J, can give me a run down on the structural and compositional analysis of the scepter.”

“The structure is alien with elements I can’t identify. It appears that the jewel is a protective housing for something inside.”

Just then, Thor disappeared through his portal.

“Okay……” Bucky trailed off.

“Where did blondie portal off to?” Tony questioned to no one in particular.

“He went back to Asgard to bring Loki here.” Pepper addressed.

“Okay, back to question.” Tony pondered. A few awkward seconds passed before Tony bolted up from his chair in surprise. “Wait he did _what_?”

“Wow. Tony, I know you lack sleep but seriously dude, it took you 20 seconds to digest what Pepper said?” Sam provoked, crossing his arms in front of him.

“Sorry birdman, but you do know that Loki nearly killed us 2 years back?” Tony snapped. “While we’re on that topic, tell me why the fuck is he trying to bring Loki back here? What is he planning on letting Loki to do? Kill us once more with Steve being out of commission?”

“Because when it comes to the scepter, only the person that used it knows how it works, Stark.” Loki butted in. Iron Man Mark XLII came flying in from somewhere in the tower, Tony went forward and held Loki by the collar.

“Come on use your words Stark.” Loki breathed out. “I have more than enough words to describe you Loki.” Tony seethed as he released Loki.

“Thor, tell me why the fuck did you bring Loki back to Earth?” Tony disengaged his armor and crossed his arms, waiting for Thor’s answer.

“The Big Bang sent elemental crystals, hurtling across the virgin universe. Each stone represented a different aspect of the universe - Space, Mind, Reality, Power, Soul and Time.” Loki dictated, readjusting his collar back to original. “My scepter houses one of the infinity stones, the Mind stone, allowing me to use it without dire consequences.”

“When I heard that Steven have been most likely exposed to a weapon created by the Mind stone, I figured it will be the best to take advice from Loki. He may have tried to take over Earth two years back but for Steven’s sake, it’s a risk I am willing to take.” Thor acknowledged.

“How do you know we can trust him?” Sam mused.

“Loki did something beyond reason then, but he is of Asgard. And he’s my brother.”

“Sir, a priority call from Ms Hill.” JARVIS announced. “Patch her through, put her on speaker.”

“Stark. Words from NATO, Strucker has escaped from the facility. They are trying their best to locate Strucker, but trail went cold and lost him.” Maria reported. “NATO is requesting help from your team to relocate Strucker, rumors that he is armed and very dangerous.”

“Great. Can things get any worse?” Clint remarked. Natasha jabbed him at the side while shooting him a glare.

As if answering Clint’s question, an alarm sounded, surprising everyone.

“Dr Banner, Captain Rogers’ vitals are currently unstable. He requires immediate attention.”

“Fuck!” Tony cursed as he took off towards the infirmary.

“You had to ask!” Natasha reprimanded Clint while Clint stood there in disbelief. He then snapped back to reality as everyone else followed Tony and rushed towards the infirmary.

* * *

“Steve!” Tony busted into the room; Bruce rushed in after Tony. Pepper blocked the rest of the worried members from coming into the room to provide some space. The rest of the team looked on through the transparent window of the room.

Steve was curled into a ball as his hands were grabbing the sheets of the bed tightly, his knuckles white. “Steve, tell me what’s wrong. Where’s hurting?” Bruce asked calmly. Bruce figured instead of panicking, asking Steve calmly is the only way to calm Steve down to avoid taxing him further.

“My head… make these voices stop.” Steve grunted out, as he tried to keep still to avoid hurting Tony and Bruce who are nearby. “Voices?” Tony clarified, looking towards Bruce.

“Tony, Bruce stay away from me. Please. I don’t want to accidentally hurt you.” Steve mumbled as he further curled into a ball.

“Steve baby, you have to tell me what voices you are hearing.” Tony asked, voices quavering as tears threatened to fall out as he grabbed Steve’s shoulder. “Tony! I asked you to stay away from me! I don’t want to hurt you!” Steve breathed out.

“But!” Tony stuttered.

“I told you to stay away! Please!” Steve demanded as he uncurled and sat up on the bed.

Tony was pushed off roughly. “Tony!” Bruce ran forward and helped Tony up from the floor.

“Wha…” Steve eyes opened in shock. He didn’t physically touch Tony at all. Traces of blue energy that suddenly appeared faded away. “Steve…” Tony whispered as he sat up.

“What’s happening… to me?” Steve muttered, tears threatening to fall out from his eyes as he looked at Tony and Bruce that were currently on the floor. Steve lowered his head as he stared at his shaking hands.

“Bruce… I think it really has something to do with the Mind stone.” He whimpered as his right hand went towards his temple. Bruce eyes widened in disbelief. Then as if he was forcefully shut down, Steve collapsed back onto the bed pillow.

“Steve!” Tony scampered up from the floor towards Steve as he shook his shoulder roughly, however to no avail. “Bruce!” Tony whipped around Bruce’s direction as Bruce stood there in shock before snapping back to reality. Bruce ran forward and felt for Steve’s pulse.

“It’s okay, he just passed out.” Bruce answered as he breathed a sigh of relief, pressing a cotton pad over the bleeding wound of Steve’s arm where he had ripped out his IV during his fit. He shifted Steve back on the bed as he readjusted everything back.

The rest of the team busted through the door after watching everything unfolding through the window. “Bruce, Tony what happened?” Sam clarified as he ran next to Steve.

“Looks like Captain America had gained new powers.” Tony trailed off, biting his thumb as he frowned, staring into space.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for the kudos and views T^T  
> I will work harder to write better. Don't be afraid to comment :)


	3. Chapter 3

**_Chapter 3_ **

“Pfft… Did the doctors from medical clear you yesterday? What are you saying?” Bucky scoffed, tearing his eyes from Steve. “Stevie has new powers. I must be dreaming.”

“No, Tony is not joking.” Bruce confirmed, face grim, pulling up the blanket to Steve’s chin who was unconscious on the bed. “Steve really has new powers; powers like Wanda Maximoff. He answered my question without even me asking him.” Bruce attached a new tube to a machine at the side of Steve’s bed. His blood ran through the machine as the machine showed the levels of corrupted serum in real-time.

Tony hummed in agreement as he took a seat on the nearby unoccupied chair with a thump. “Legolas said it just now, ‘her thing is neuroelectric interfacing, telekinesis and mental manipulation’.” Tony quoted, mocking Clint’s serious voice, successfully earning a glare from Clint. “Steve pushed me off him without physically touching me. Well, that’s what I think. Unless Cap here learnt a new combat move that produces a gush of wind like Kungfu movies, it’s an energy blast.”

“JARVIS, playback the footage from the security camera installed in this room at the point of incident.” Pepper instructed. Tony whistled. “This is why I transferred the CEO position to Pep.”

“Shut up Tony.” Natasha said, sending a killer intent that successfully ran chills down Tony’s spine. Obviously, she’s in a bad mood because of Steve. “Alright. Shutting up.”

The footage playback on the nearby projection monitor installed in the corner of the room.

“J, bring the footage to 07:36:48, play it at 0.05 times speed. There, stop.”

True to Tony’s words, a weak wave of blue energy appeared out of nowhere.

“Do an infrared scan of it. Compare it with the footage gotten from Maximoff yesterday as well as the energy signature emitted from Loki’s scepter.”

“Scan complete. Scans shown that Captain Roger’s energy emission matches 86% that of Wanda Maximoff and 74% that of the scepter.” JARVIS reported.

“Looks like that weapon really did alter Steve’s DNA. Most likely Strucker have enhanced the Maximoffs by altering their DNA composition.” Bruce mused. “For the benefit of those that do not understand Steve’s serum, when Steve signed up for Project Rebirth during World War II, the super soldier serum was first injected into him. That serum cured Steve his past ailments, even further enhancing him to the peak of human potential. That serum is not only coursing through his blood, it permanently altered his DNA so that his body can keep producing the serum.”

Everyone nodded, acknowledging that they so far understood that Bruce was currently saying.

Bruce sighed, crossing his legs as he scrolled through his Starkpad. “Based on the increasing percentage of mutated serum in Steve’s blood, the blast from the weapon most likely introduced nano nanites into his blood that the scanners missed, introducing DNA altering compositions that is currently altering his DNA. However, since super soldier serum is the ultimate shield that protects Steve from catching literally anything, it’s fighting back. But not a winning battle.”

“And not without Steve not getting caught in the crossfire, giving him new powers in the process.” Tony trailed off; hints of sadness visible in his voice.

“It’s cool and all Steve get new powers.” Sam voiced out, but his face turned even darker as he crossed his arms in front of him. “But since you guys mentioned about mutation and all, and I didn’t fail Biology. That means Steve can’t control these powers, and it’s going to get even stronger, Steve would post as a threat sooner or later if we don’t find a way to stop the mutation.”

“Aye, Loki and I will research more about the Mind stone back in Asgard.” Thor imparted; his voice softer than usual. Loki nodded towards Thor. “We will come back as soon as we found out how to reverse this. Until then, take care of Captain Patriotic for us. Afterall, it wouldn’t be fun if one of my favourite rivals is gone.”

“I bid you farewell my friends. Please contact me when there is emergency.” With that, Thor opened the Bifrost and disappeared to Asgard along with Loki.

“Looks like Loki is on our side this time.” Pepper comforted Tony who was being uncharacteristically quiet on his chair, glancing sadly towards Steve direction. “Don’t worry Tony, everyone will do their best to help Steve through this ordeal.” Pepper comforted, hugging him from the back.

“I’m afraid there’s where I have to deliver even worse news.” A new voice entered the conversation as the door opened. To everyone’s surprise, Nick freaking Fury entered the room. “Nick!” “Fury!” Maria Hill followed closely behind him.

“Spit it out, what else are we missing?” Tony cleared his throat as Pepper moved away.

“Most likely, Strucker’s escape had something to do with Steve.” Maria alleged. “When HYDRA was undercover in SHIELD, samples of Steve’s blood were stolen by unknown parties. All surveillance cameras were destroyed. No eyewitness; either they are working for HYDRA or they have been killed to keep their mouth shut. We believe the blood samples have been used to either create more super soldiers like Steve or neutralise Captain America for good.”

“Hold on, why would SHIELD have Steve’s blood in the first place?” Bucky questioned, voice raised slightly, but not loud enough to disturb the slumbering figure in the room.

“You took it without Steve’s permission didn’t you, Nick?” Tony stood up adruptly from his chair, chair left forgotten on the floor as Tony walk straight towards and glared into Fury’s eyes. “Tell me. No. Tell everyone. The truth.”

“Yes, Stark. It’s exactly what you think.” Fury replied, as he stepped back. He crossed his arms behind his back as he walked towards the wall of the room. “When Rogers was discovered perfectly preserved in ice along the shores of Greenland, we took blood samples from him when he was recovering and unconscious after being thawed.”

“But then, you didn’t tell Steve about it didn’t you?” Sam threatened. Fury turned around facing the others present in the room, most of them ticked off, with traces of green running up Bruce’s neck.

“I’m not obliged to do anything Wilson. I admit it is wrong for SHIELD to take Roger’s blood without his permission but-”

“But it’s because of SHIELD Steve’s in danger in the first place!” Tony seethed out. “If you haven’t taken those blood samples, Steve may not be in this position! HYDRA wouldn’t have gotten their hands on his blood to run experiments at all!”

“Okay I know you are mad everyone, it’s SHIELD fault on this part, but arguing about the morality of this issue wouldn’t solve what’s happening right now.” Maria voiced out, making Tony effectively stepping down and the removing the other Avengers present killer intents.

“Right now, the best approach is to protect Rogers from Strucker, who is most likely out there somewhere; and also figure a way to stop the mutation process of the serum.” Fury suggested. “We will do our best to provide support, but when it comes to overcoming this ordeal, only Avengers have the ability and brains to do it.”

* * *

After the conversation with Fury and the others, Tony and Bruce found themselves to be cropped up in Bruce’s lab. When it comes to the super soldier serum, Bruce is the current leading expert on Earth. The others are playing their parts in the tracking of Strucker’s and Maximoff’s movements, hopefully prevent Steve from falling into their hands, which may make things many folds worse. Pepper wanted to aid; however, she knew she lack the skillsets needed to help in the research on the serum or finding the locations of Strucker and the Maximoffs. She offered to accompany Steve whenever she had time to spare. Tony was grateful that there was someone taking his place to accompany Steve in his stead.

Another day has passed since the conversation, the corrupted serum levels have increased to 5.2%. Steve’s fever had broken, but Steve remained either unconscious or delirious most of the time. No one knew whether it is a good thing or a bad thing. Perhaps, it is a blessing in disguise that Steve need not suffer in pain if there is, most of the time. Bruce deemed it is as not a good sign since it may be a precaution that Steve’s serum took to shut the body down to preserve most of his strength to fight back the mutation; the IV can only provide so much nutrients. Bruce knew that the serum needed an energy source, so he added two more bags of intravenous nutrients to Steve’s IV line. Now Steve really looks like a very, very ill person.

So far, there’s no progress as in how to reverse the mutation of the serum; and with no word from Thor and Loki, the situation like Tony called it. “Very fucked up”.

“Bruce how’s prototype 24?” Tony yawned. Bruce and Tony had been surviving on quick power naps, coffee breaks, consisting of mostly pure black coffee shots and small snacks.

“There’s no signs of retracting. So, it’s a failure. We might have to use a different approach.” Bruce sighed as he leaned back on the lab chair as he stared on the simulation results provided by JARVIS on the projection screen. “Tony, I’ll read through the simulation results once more and have JARVIS inform you if I found out anything. Go ahead and pay Steve a visit for us yeah?”

“Sure, thanks Bruce.” Tony thanked, as he stood up from his chair and stretched before heading towards Steve room.

* * *

Tony knew Steve’s condition was not improving, in fact it’s getting worse; however, he is still not mentally prepared to see Steve like _this_. His Steve. A super soldier that loves him, that protects him, that cuddles him, that accept him for who he was and most importantly, the leader of Avengers that everyone respects and looks up to. He’s Steve Rogers. But the serum, the ultimate weapon that keeps him safe is now turned against him. Steve looks smaller and younger than usual, without that semi-permanent frown etched at his brows. Bruce had added a lot of monitors around to have JARVIS updating him about Steve’s condition in real-time.

“Hey Pep, you alright?” Tony managed to squeeze out, clearing his throat right after. He placed his hand on her shoulder as he gave a comforting squeeze. Pep shrugged as she tore her eyes away from her Starkpad, from her paperwork.

“Yeah I’m alright. You should be asking Steve that instead.” Pepper pointed out as she affectionately brushed away the golden bangs that manage to rest on Steve’s closed eyelids. Pepper treats Steve like her little brother. Sure, Steve may be the leader of the most powerful team on Earth and technically 97 years old; however, after deducting the number of years he unfortunately spent as a Capsicle, he is 27 years old. “At least Steve’s fever broke. I just wish he is awake. Everyone is worried.”

“Yeah. Bruce and I have no luck on how to shut off the mutation.” Tony admitted; his voice surprising even himself.

“Tony, don’t you dare give up now. Steve need you now more than ever. And you know how stubborn this little idiot is.” Pepper took Tony’s hand that was on her shoulder and placed it on Steve’s hand that were warm and limp on the bed. “So, give him the hope that he needs to continue fighting on his part okay?” Pepper patted their hands.

“I’m going to give you guys some space alone okay?” With that Pepper left Tony alone with Steve in this room.

“Geez Steve, you are shaving way too many years off me. I am already older than you biologically, don’t make it the gap difference bigger okay?” Tony joked as he intertwined their hands together.

Tony cleared his throat as he took in the scene where Steve is hooked to all kinds of machines and IV bags. Tony can’t shake the image off his head. The last time Steve was in this state was in DC. The feelings he felt then came rushing back to him again – Loneliness, Fear, Anger, and a whole lot more of complicated feeling he can’t point out. Hooked to the ventilator, as many bags of IV ran into Steve as he recuperated in the ICU after the surgery. He spent so much time beside Steve then, cursing Steve why he didn’t simply ask for his help. He spent a night together with Steve, only leaving for bathroom breaks. It was only until Sam came in the morning telling him Steve’s shield is somewhere in the water in Washington, he and JARVIS decided to hunt for Steve’s baby. Tony was still low-key pissed at Steve for waking up only when Sam was with him as he went to take a quick shower. Regardless, Tony popped the question when Steve woke up after his quick nap while both were alone.

Steve was broken after the incident, after discovering Bucky was in fact the Winter Soldier. After SHIELD’s secure files along with the past of most members of the Avengers were uploaded on the internet, Steve spent a few days in seclusion on his floor in the Avengers Tower. It was only when Tony dragged Steve out for a walk, Steve started his daily jogging again. Steve decided to search Bucky along with Sam when Natasha handed him Bucky’s experimental data over to him. Tony convinced Steve to stay as he could help track Bucky down for him, but Steve refused, saying that it is something he should do himself and Tony should not follow him since he was still recovering from his surgery. Steve returned with Sam and Bucky after 2 months, joining to be a part of Avengers since then.

Tony comforted himself constantly when Steve was in the ICU that Steve had his serum to heal him up good as new with no scars in a few days. But now, the serum is compromised, and is the one that is harming Steve right now. Tony is scared.

“If only you are awake right now…” Tony trailed off as he stared at their intertwined hands. Tony sighed as he glanced at the monitor. The corrupted serum had increased to 5.6% in an hour.

Just then, Tony noticed a slight change in Steve’s brainwave reading. Closing his eyes, Tony brushed it off as Steve dreaming, spending some time mediating before he goes back to join Bruce in the lab again.

“Tony…?”

Tony popped open his eyes, to check whether Steve was awake. But Steve’s blue eyes were still hidden. Tony figured he must really be lacking on sleep since now he is even imagining Steve talking to him. It was only then Tony felt the change in temperature in his hand he glanced down.

There it was – Pure blue energy manifesting between their hands. A beautiful blue like Steve’s eyes.

“Steve?” Tony started, voice quavering.

“Tony?” God, Tony must be dreaming.

* * *

Steve find himself in an empty white space. He knew it’s different this time round. His usual nightmares about the war and the ice was nothing like this.

He’s alone.

Steve curled himself up, hugging his knees as he crumbled onto the invisible floor. The feeling of loneliness came assaulting back, telling him that he really is a man out of time, with no other identity other Captain America he must uphold to. Steve Rogers is just a normal human that had volunteered himself to protect his country, but now the war is over, he was forced to confront the fact that everyone he once loved in the past was gone. Bucky was the last living link to the past.

It’s so painful. And he wanted it to end.

He closed his eyes. Drifting in the endless abyss, voices prickled at the edges of his consciousness every now and then. How long has it been?

_Stevie fight for me okay?_

_I hate you so much. For worrying me like this. For making me care._

_He’s too stubborn to let us down._

Hands that gave him that brushed his hair, squeezing his hand, giving him encouragement, hope and love. He knew, he’s no longer alone. He made new friends; friends that give him support, friends who knew the person behind his Captain America mantle.

Tony gave him a new hope.

He missed Tony. Tony’s comforting voice, Tony’s scent and Tony all over him. And he promised to fight for his sake. Fight back to his side. But he has no idea how to fight.

He’s tired from all the conflict and battles.

But he can’t let everyone down just yet.

_If only you are awake right now…_

Tony’s voice pierce clearly through his hazy consciousness. He felt clearly Tony’s hand. The warmth that he longed for. The feeling he had craved for 24/7.

“Tony…?” Steve tried.

He feels ridiculous. He must be out of his mind if Tony can hear him.

But then, Tony’s hand squeezed tighter. It can’t be.

“Tony?” He tried again; a new sense of hope followed through him.

_Steve?_

Tony’s shot through, voice clear and quavering. Tony could hear him.

He’s not alone in this abyss anymore.

* * *

_“Tony?”_ Steve’s voice ringed in his head.

Tears welled up in his eyes as they dripped down onto the bed. It’s been forever that he heard Steve’s voice. It doesn’t matter it is through the new powers or not.

His Steve returned to him. He sniffled as pulled the chair closer, hands never breaking apart. He shifted closer, hugging Steve’s head with his other hand as took in Steve’s scent, tears dripping onto his head.

Tears also begun coming out of Steve’s closed eyelids.

They missed each other so much, Steve’s no exception.

“I can hear you Steve... You’re not alone anymore. I’m here with you.” Tony whispered, wiping tears away as he wiped Steve’s tears away too.

 _“Tony. I missed hearing your voice so much…”_ Steve voice echoed. _“What happened? I can’t move my body at all. Why can I hear you?”_

“You are subconsciously doing that?” Tony questioned, brushing Steve’s hair from his eyes.

 _“Define ‘that’.”_ Steve queried, voice with a hint of worry and fear.

“You gained new powers, Steve. The serum DNA has been altered, giving you new powers like telepathy and telekinesis. Probably much more if it is continued being altered. Bruce and I are trying our best to stop this.” Tony answered. “Right now, appearance wise, there’s bright blue energy intertwining our hands, maybe that’s why I can hear you.”

 _“That means I don’t have full control over my powers yet.”_ Steve trailed off. _“My new powers I meant.”_

“Most likely.” Tony agreed. “How are you feeling?”

_“Nothing much? I guess. I just missed hearing your voice. I miss everyone so much. It’s lonely in here. I’ve been awake all this time. How long has it been?” Steve questioned_

“Three days Steve. Three days since everyone saw you up and about. They are going to kill you once more after this blows over.” Tony joked.

“Sir? Dr Banner has been asking for you from the lab. He said it is something regarding the simulation results for the latest antidote prototype.” JARVIS mechanical voice popped out.

“Sure, I will head down soon.” Tony answered.

“Steve? You still there, baby?” Tony asked.

_“Yeah, still loud and clear.” Steve voice echoed._

“I have to go back to Bruce’s lab to work on how to solve this problem. I must go. I’m sorry. But we’re racing against time here.” Tony apologized; guilt evident in his voice as he stroked Steve’s hand with his thumb.

 _“Alright. I will be fine. I assume I have all the monitors around me, don’t I? Bruce is a worrytart.”_ Steve giggled.

“I am so surprised you still can joke in your condition.” Tony laughed, giving a faint smile despite Steve not being able to see it.

 _“What can I say? I been beside you for too long. I blame you.”_ Steve accused.

“Wow. I’m hurt.” Tony mocked. “I’ll be back soon alright?” Tony pecked Steve’s forehead as he reluctantly broke apart their hands. Like he guessed, the blue energy dispersed, and Steve’s voice disappeared.

With that Tony returned to the lab, with a whole new refreshed conviction.

* * *

A few minutes after Tony left, Steve’s eyes slit opened.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for the views :)  
> I hope you are enjoying the story so far. After this chapter, the updates may be slow since I am a student (I should be studying lol) but I will update as often as possible.  
> Have a nice day ahead :D


	4. Chapter 4

**_Chapter 4_ **

"According to Tony… I have been in a comatose state for 3 days after I used my new powers." Steve stretched as he sat up. The hollow white space he was previously in had changed to a more comforting grey space. _Wha… Why is scenery changing?_

With all things considered, since waking up in this century, a lot of things had been thrown to him. He was forced to accept and adapt to it. He was lost, he was tired to change and adapt. But, the best thing that was thrown to him was leading the Avengers. Steve smiled weakly.

It was only like yesterday, where the original six of them were spending time doing unexpected nonsensical bonding stuff like Laser Tag in the modified training gym in the tower. Tony suggested, instead of Steve’s idea of constant team-building trials and exercises to bond and coordinate the team, they should have a physical recreational activity once in a while that helps to relieve stress and promote team bonding. Well, they aren’t allowed to use their weapons; that means no shield, no stingy shocking weapons, no suit, no Mjolnir and absolutely no Hulking out. Well, Clint certainly had the advantage and everyone was suggesting, _threatening_ him to have _both_ hands tied to the back instead of just one. Even the usually awkward scientist Bruce disappeared into the darkness and nearly took off Steve’s target on his back when he was too focused on Thor having too much fun.

Steve was glad that he was given the opportunity to lead this team of unique people. Even if it meant a lot of learning, conflicts, setbacks. But as time passed, they had learnt to bond and trust each other deeply. He knew, he has a new family now.

“I need to learn how to control my powers.” Steve mumbled as he glanced at his hands. “With the serum fighting back, it gives me an advantage to control it better.”

“Abracadabra!” Steve shot his arm out before awkwardly clearing his throat and lowered his arm, face flushing red even if no one was there. “Come on Rogers, as if _that_ would work.”

Steve mentally face-palmed. “I need to cut down the time spent watching the weird magic shows Clint has recommended.”

“Ok, that means it’s based on will then.” Steve closed his eyes, trying hard to focus.

“Nope. Focusing hard doesn’t work too.” Steve sighed as he spread out his limbs in the transparent floor.

“How the hell did I…” Steve trailed off.

He closed his eyes and relaxed completely, allowing his consciousness to drift into the abyss.

His body felt like it was being weighed down by weights as he choked on his breath. The scent of antiseptics hit him on full force. Well, he wasn’t surprised that he was in medical, it’s certainly unpleasant to be waking up here often. The itch on both his arms are certainly IV needles as he turned his aching head to the side accompanied by the crumpling of the sterile covering of the pillow. He hissed as he tried to open his eyes, stung by the bright LED lights in the room. Behind his eyelids, the light got dimmer. He attempted to open his eyelids to be greeted with an empty room.

“Good morning Captain Rogers.” a mechanical voice filled the room, successfully startling Steve as he sat up suddenly, earning a hiss as he pulled on the IV lines. Black dots filled his vision and the room as he held onto his head due to the sudden change in blood pressure.

“Good morning to you too JARVIS.” Steve groaned out, rolling his eyes beneath his eyelids while leaning back onto the bed.

"Please don't do that." he grumbled before opening his eyes and clearing his throat before pouring a cup of water left at the table.

"My apologies."

“And also, please don’t inform Bruce and Tony.” He continued, knowing JARVIS may have already done so as soon he moved.

“Are you sure? I was ordered to inform everyone about changes to your conditions. Agent Romanoff even threatened to do something to my circuit boards if I ignored the order.” JARVIS replied; a hint of annoyance hidden behind the mechanical voice.

Steve snickered. “Yes, I want to visit the two myself.”

“I advise you not to do so.” JARVIS replied as Steve slipped out the IV needles holding the cotton balls on the bedside table as his super healing clotted the wounds. Looks like someone has been using the cotton balls at the bedside table to wet his lips constantly to prevent it from drying out Steve noted judging by the pair of tweezers and a cup of water.

“Where are Tony and Bruce?” Steve placed his legs on the surprisingly warm tiled floors of the medical room.

“Down in Doctor Banner’s lab.” JARVIS replied. Steve stood up, holding onto the bed railing as he tried to find his balance. “Captain Rogers, this is a very unwise decision and I will not be taking responsibility for the consequences that follow.”

“I don't much care.” Steve waved off, proceeding to the elevators.

* * *

"Do you think we can prevent the mutation process by inhibiting polymerase extension?" Bruce queried, swiping the processed solution simulation towards to Tony’s desk.

"But that's only one part of the process of genetic replication." Tony sighed, swiping multiple holographic DNA sequences in front of him. "We have to determine what step of the genetic mutation is more advanced that it beats the shit out of Steve's serum that repairs itself all the time."

"Since when did you become an expert on molecular genetics?” Bruce inquired, raising his eyebrows as he turned around to face Tony glancing at the projections.

"Last night.” Tony shrugged, stuffing his hands into the pocket of his sweatpants. 

“There are different phases of genetic replication, I guess we can start by actually identifying which phase it is the serum is losing.” Tony sighed, rubbing both his hands onto his face before sipping the third cup of black coffee for the afternoon.

“Am I very late to the afterparty?” a familiar voice popped up from the lab entrance.

“Steve?!” Bruce blurted out, accidentally over rotating his chair.

Tony managed to gulp down the coffee that he nearly spat out before heavily placing down the coffee mug onto the desk. He spun around to spot a pale, sweatshirt and pants cladded blond figure leaning heavily towards the door entrance.

“STEVE?!”

Tony stood up from his chair abruptly, rubbing his eyes to double confirm the figure standing right in front of him before running forward and hugging Steve. It was probably the worst idea Tony has ever made in his mind because he literally took down the weakened soldier in one sweep.

“JARVIS, what happened to updating Steve’s condition to me?”

“My apologies Dr Banner. Captain Rogers insisted on visiting sir and Dr Banner personally despite my best efforts of persuading him not to.” JARVIS apologized.

“Leave it to the stubborn kid from Brooklyn to pull this off.” Bruce sighed. “JARVIS remind me to tie Steve down to the bed next time if there is a need to.”

“Will do Dr Banner.”

Bruce sighed. Tony was heavily kissing Steve, completely ignoring:

a) They are not alone

b) Steve is still sick

c) The serum is currently still fighting the mutation happening

Clearing his throat, he stopped the make-out session of the couple, feeling a hint of guilt surging through him before steeling himself again.

“I know you guys haven’t make out since forever, but in case you both forgotten, this is not over yet.” Bruce reprimanded. “JARVIS, report on Steve’s vitals.”

“No physical abnormalities detected. Captain Rogers has a depressed cardiac, respiratory activity but outside critical range. However, I am unable to report on current mutated serum level. Corrupted serum level was last measured approximately 15 minutes ago at 5.8%.”

“Steve how are you feeling?” Bruce asked as Tony helped him up and settled him on Tony’s lab chair.

“As far as I can tell… normal? Just a little dizzy and tired that’s all.”

“No pain, no weird things happening or anything?” Tony confirmed, hands never leaving Steve’s shoulder as he stood behind the super soldier.

“No… Well, I seemed to be able to control my new powers relatively a bit better now. I suppose that’ll be a good sign…?” Steve trailed off.

“Wait what do you mean _control_? You knew what are all the new powers you obtained?” Bruce verified, shocked as he glanced up from his Starkpad containing the updates on Steve’s vitals.

“So far I can do this…” Blue energy surrounded Tony’s “I love America’s ass” mug, before landing onto his hand effortlessly. “But whenever I do that, my head hurts like no other day. Here.” Steve passed the mug to a stupefied Tony behind him as he instinctively grabbed the mug passed to him.

“Oh and according to Tony…” Steve grabbed both Tony’s arm and signaled for Bruce to come over before grabbing his arm. Blue energy surrounded Steve’s hands.

_I unconsciously used my powers when Tony was there, and we were able to communicate via what I think it's a telepathic link?_

Steve released both their arms before waving his hands in front of the face of the currently dumbstruck pair of scientists in front of him.

“So wait you are telling me… you figured it out?” Tony stammered, his mind finally kickstarting again.

“I think so? So far.” Steve confirmed. “I don’t know what else are there, but these are the ones that I really can do with least side effects.”

“Holy fuck… Captain America has new powers…” Tony mumbled, before clearing his throat. “But… it’s only a matter of time you will lose control because of the constant mutation.”

“Yeah I agree with Tony on that statement.” Bruce pulled his chair nearby and sat in front of Steve, staring into his eyes with a sense of fear. “Steve, I know it may seem like you are able to control these powers for now. But.” He sucked in a breath. “We have no idea what effects are going to have on you in the long run.”

Steve nodded, fully comprehensive of what Bruce was saying.

“The mutation is still taking place, and the corrupted serum level has been increasing over the course of 3 days you have been unconscious. I am assuming that the serum counter-reacting against the mutation was the one that enabled you control of these abilities. If the mutation takes place even more…”

“I lose complete control…” Steve trailed off, absentmindedly squeezing Tony’s hand that was grasped within his hand some point of the conversation with Bruce.

“Don’t worry sweetheart. Brucie and I are working on the antidote and we still have a few ideas that we haven’t tried out yet. We wouldn’t let you tough this one out Cap.” Tony squatted down in front of Steve, turning his chair to face himself. Tony pecked Steve’s cheeks before ruffling his hair.

Steve blushed, a rosy complexion that brought some color back to his pale cheeks.

Steve looked down towards his hands.

“Bruce. Tony.” Using his Captain America’s voice. “Promise me.” Blue energy dancing among his fingers. “Promise me you will put me down if I ever did something to hurt anyone.” His voice trailed off into something more than a mumble.

“But Steve.”

“Please.” Steve lamented, looking at both scientists with his eyes filled with determination and fear. “I don’t want to hurt anyone.”

Tony and Bruce glanced at each other. Bruce shook his head as he close eyes, releasing a painful sigh.

“Alright.” “Okay.”

* * *

Tony and Bruce brought Steve back to the infirmary after Bruce checked him 20 times over. Even Tony is impressed by how much Bruce was motherhening over Steve. He had always thought that Steve was the one in-charge of the role of motherhening in the team. Apparently he was wrong.

Bruce asked Steve to try using his telekinetic powers for analysis. Well, other than nearly giving Bruce a concussion and nearly brought the Other Guy out, it was evident that Steve is gaining more control of his new powers, but not without side effects.

Steve’s telekinetic energy emission is now almost matching Wanda Maximoff’s power at 91%. Thus, Bruce and Tony have confirmed that the mutation is indeed caused by an experimental feat using Loki’s sceptor, the one that houses the Mind Stone, by Strucker. Which is a bad thing. Either Strucker had aimed to kill Steve or deserum him in the first place, neither Bruce nor Tony had a clue on what Strucker aim was. With Strucker now on the loose and off the grid, Thor and Loki still off world, and other Avengers scouting for Strucker and other hidden HYDRA bases located in other countries, it is indeed the worst possible situation they can ever think of.

Bruce wanted to place the IV needles back into Steve’s arms to provide him with the water, electrolytes and nutrients he needs, but Steve strictly refused. It was then Tony forced him to eat some of the peanut butter jelly sandwiches he prepared in the kitchen as well as a bottle of Gatorade, Bruce and Tony complied to Steve’s request. They were worried of course, normally Steve would be eating at least two large pizzas by himself, however, Steve was full after two slices of bread with peanut butter and jelly spread. It was a slight improvement since Steve was finally eating and not intravenously fed. Tony noticed that Steve had lost some muscle mass over the course of a few days and was about to explode from the amount of worrying he is going through.

Now Bruce and Tony were analyzing the latest antidote simulation in Steve’s infirmary room as the super soldier had nodded off into a healing sleep after his brunch.

Sighing heavily as he left the simulation to run, Tony leaned back against the sofa as he stretched his arms above his head. “JARVIS, patch me through to all the other Avengers out there.”

“Connecting.” Faces of the different pairs of Avengers popped up in the holographic projection of the other spare Starkpad he has.

“Tony what’s wrong? Is something wrong with Steve?” Natasha questioned, with a hint of worry behind her voice.

“Hold your horses Nat.” Bruce interfered before Tony can even open his mouth and speak. “You can see for yourself. Steve is as fine as he can be for now.” Everyone glanced at Steve behind Tony through the video call as he turned to his side in his sleep.

“He woke up just now. Which brings me to the point of this call.” Tony grimace, turning around to take in the view of Steve soundly sleeping, totally out cold unwary of the worried atmosphere around him. “Steve is able to control the new powers he currently has. New powers as in telekinesis, telepathy in simple terms.”

“That’s a good thing isn’t it?” Sam blurted out.

“Unless you are implying…” Clint speculated, glancing up from adjusting his arrowhead.

“Yes. Wow for once Clint is smart.” Tony provoked, smirking at Clint who was successfully ticked off.

“Shut up.”

“Anyways, yes Clint is right.” Tony opened the analysis of Steve’s DNA as compared to three days ago when Steve’s first symptoms appeared and projected in front of him.

“The corrupted serum levels have increased to 6.0% when we took his blood sample approximately 10 minutes ago. The rate that the corrupted serum level is increasing at around 0.2% every hour or so. Now his energy emission has matched 91% of Wanda Maximoff’s.” Bruce reported.

“The reason why Steve was able to control his powers was because of his super soldier serum providing some stability for him to control these powers with considerable will. Of course, that is not without side effects.” Tony continued, swiping the footage of Steve sent a wrench flying towards Bruce towards the projection. “As you can see, it’s still relatively unstable and unsafe for Steve to use. Steve complained of migraines, and actually had a nosebleed after using his telekinetic power after some time.”

“Unfortunately, Tony and I haven’t come out with any antidote that is able to stop the mutation process or even slow it down at all. However, right now we had a very promising theory that is currently running through simulation right now as we speak. That’s all we have for now.” Bruce finished, turning back to the simulation that has been running for the past minute. “In defense of why Maximoff have no side effects is because the enhanced DNA has already been locked and stopped, unlike Steve’s whose DNA is still mutating. Constant mutation is much more dangerous.”

“So... everyone report your statuses. Clint, Sam what’s your status.” Tony questioned, drinking the leftover bottle Gatorade that Steve didn’t manage to finish a while ago.

“No sign of Strucker in this HYDRA base. According to the data files in the computer banks, this base has been abandoned approximately right after the collapse of SHIELD.” Sam reported.

“Now we are preparing to head back to Avengers Tower, will arrive somewhere around at night today.” Clint finished.

“Okay. Nat and James?”

“Same here. No sign of Strucker. However, there have been reports of weapon facilities and robotic labs being attacked. No fatalities except when engaged. Most of the personnel are left in a fugue state, going on about old memories and worst fears or “something too fast to see”. It is most likely the doings of Maximoffs.” Natasha reported.

“But I don’t get it. Strucker conducted experiments on them. It doesn’t make sense on why they want to help him in the first place.” Bucky commented. “Unless they are trying to take revenge on us, I don’t see the point.”

“With that said, Barnes and I will be back around nighttime as well after we are done with the recon.”

"Alright. Stay safe everyone. Bruce and I will do our best to counter the mutation. If there’s any problem don’t be afraid to ring everyone else.” Tony concluded, swiping off the analysis reports.

With that the call ended, and the room went back to being as quiet as before.

“Tony, I am going to go try out more samples back down in my lab. Keep an eye on Steve will ya? I will transfer some of the sample data over to your Starkpad via JARVIS later.” Bruce stood up from his chair, adjusting his attire.

“All right sure Bruce. If anything, inform me alright?”

“Yeah. Don’t do anything to Steve while I’m away.”

“Pfft.” Tony snorted. “What do you think I will do to him when he is out cold like this? _Fuck him_?”

“Knowing you, it’s not impossible.”

“Bruce!” For the first time, Bruce managed to make _the_ Tony Stark blush. Tony hid behind his face behind his hands.

“Kidding. Kidding. Alright I’ll be back. Pepper already left for DC an hour back.”

“Alright thanks.”

With that, Tony is left alone with Steve. Tony spent a few minutes just listening and watching Steve breathing in and out of his body. Tony had to make sure Steve is still alive next to him. Steve had such a hypnotic effect, maybe it is just him being burned out after 2 days of non-existent sleep. Even if he did, it was a restless and uneasy sleep filled with nightmares of Steve leaving him, him causing the death of all the Avengers.

He saw it in the HYDRA base last time. A vision.

Everyone else was dead. Steve grabbing his arm after Tony ran forward to check for his pulse.

_You could have saved us. Why didn’t you do more?_

Steve died in his arms in that vision. Blood flowed free out of his nose; his indestructible shield lay broken next to him. Tony fell backwards, holding in the urge to cry as he watched the extraterrestrial beings invading Earth helplessly. Then the vision ended.

Steve was struck down by a laser blast before that. He wanted to stay next to Steve, giving him the comfort, holding his hand as he laid down on the gurney in the quinjet. But Steve wanted him to take the secure the sceptor. He did. The sceptor was taken back to Asgard by Thor and Loki a few days back. But until now, there has been no news from the pair of brothers.

Tony laid his head down on the bed directly next to Steve’s chest, left hand grabbing tightly with Steve’s never wanting to let go. Steve is still here next to him. Tony drifted off to sleep listening to the melodic and calm rhythmic breathing sounds from Steve.

* * *

“Sir! Sir! Wake up!”

“Wha…? JARVIS?” Tony bolted up from his to also see Steve waking up due to the commotion that JARVIS was making. “Steve!”

“What is it JARVIS?” Steve asked, clearing his throat as he pressed the button to incline his bed up.

“There are intruders in the building. Doctor Banner has requested assistance.” JARVIS replied.

“Then what are you doing? Initiate tower defense protocols then!” Tony exclaimed, now fully awake.

“I am afraid I am unable to do so. My defense systems have been overwritten.”

“Overwritten?! I wrote those codes myself! How can it be overwritten?!”

“Tony. Not the time. Where’s Bruce?”

“Dr Banner has requested assistance down in his lab.”

“Steve! Nope, you are staying here. JARVIS lock down the infirmary. Prevent Steve from leaving this place.”

“Nuh ah ah. No one is going anywhere.” A figure sped into the infirmary.

“Pietro Maximoff. Why are you doing here?” Tony hissed; Mark XLII armor came bursting through the infirmary doors as Tony suited on.

“You can still speed away from this. I know you suffered.” Steve lifted his covers, now standing next to Tony.

“Pfft. I will. I’ll just come here to warn you. You may want to catch Dr Banner. Adios.”

With that Pietro disappeared, speeding off to be most likely Bruce’s lab to most likely pick up his sister.

“Steve, you stay here. It is most likely a distraction to get you out in NYC to capture you.” Tony advised, ready to take off anytime.

“But Tony... You know it is also risky leaving me alone in the building with tower defenses offline. Let me follow you. I will just put on my shoes and stay close to you.” Steve pointed out, already holding his shield in his hands, slipping on his sports shoes raring to go.

“Urgh… JARVIS contact the others. Tell them to report back to NYC ASAP. Let’s go Steve.” Tony obviously lost to Steve’s reasoning as well as his serious Captain America eyes, wrapped his right arm around Steve’s waist.

* * *

“JARVIS search all news footage, keyword: Hulk.” Tony blasted out of the tower, with Steve in tow.

Images of the news footage of rampaging Hulk appeared in front of him. “Well that’s comprehensive. Urgh… if only Natasha is here, we could really use a lullaby.” 

“My thoughts the same as yours, most likely Wanda gave Bruce a vision of his fear or old memory like you, causing him to turn into the Other Guy. But Natasha isn’t here right now, I doubt Bruce will listen to the both of us.” Steve replied; his voice clear in the internal earpiece in Tony’s left ear.

“Steve you are able to read minds now?” Tony mused, turning his attention to Steve that was in his half-embrace.

“Keep your eyes on the road Tony. Of course, I can, I am hugging you right now, sometimes I can’t control my powers. I am scared that I will blast you off anytime.” Steve replied; voice softened at the later part of his sentence.

“Steve whatever you do, DO NOT. And I really mean it. DO NOT showcase your new powers. The last thing we want is the whole country to know that Captain America appeared with new powers that they have never seen before. Fury will really chew my head off allowing you to step outside the building in the first place.” Tony cautioned. “I’ll calling in Veronica.”

Down below was the Hulk rampaging through the streets of NYC. Tony began to don the Hulkbuster armor that he and Bruce designed a while back, in case of situations like this happens.

“I’ll evacuate the civilians nearby. I will inform if anything happens.” Steve ran off. What really happened to staying close to Tony all the time?

“Come on buddy work with me here.” Tony grasped Hulk’s arm with his left hand. “You are Bruce Banner. Remember who you are.”

Hulk roared louder than before, obviously pissed at Tony. “Okay okay. Don’t mention puny Banner.” Tony flew out of the streets to prevent more destruction to the streets. “Let’s get you out to the streets alright?”

“JARVIS how fast do you think we can buy this building?”

Tony scanned the under construction new building for lifeforms to be glad that there was currently no one on-site. He dropped the Hulk down the building, pushing him through the many layers of concrete floors. The Hulk pushed him towards the nearby office building. In the chaos the elevator lift wiring got cut, and the elevator started its unstoppable descent to the first floor.

“NO!” Tony tried to grab the wiring, but he missed it. The elevator was about to hit the floor until it stopped. By a certain blue energy. Steve.

“STEVE! WHAT HAPPENED TO NOT USING YOUR POWERS?!” Tony reprimanded, armor still grasping onto Hulk’s left arm. “HOW DID YOU GET HERE IN THE FIRST PLACE?”

Steve released the elevator, urging everyone to run away as the blue energy disappears. Everyone turned back as they ran away in the direction Steve pointed them to, eyes widening to see Captain America with his shield, but not in his uniform. “I KNOW I CAN’T USE MY POWERS. BUT I CAN’T LET THOSE PEOPLE DIE!”

Blue energy danced between Steve’s palms as blue energy started wrapping around the Hulk, evident that Steve is now trying to hold the Hulk in place. “At this point, there’s no use to conceal my powers anymore. I flew here, if you are wondering. I used my blast energy to fly here.”

“God… I am so dead.” Tony groaned.

“I am going to try to go into Bruce’s head.” Steve choked out, blood already leaking out of his nose.

“I AM NOT GOING TO LET YOU TO! STOP USING YOUR POWERS. IT’S ALREADY TAKING OUT A LOT FROM YOU.” Tony barked out, before successfully knocking the Hulk out with a direct punch with electricity to his head.

The Hulk fell to his knees before collapsing onto the marble floor of the office building. Blue energy surrounding the Hulk disappeared as Steve released him. Steve’s legs buckled as he too fell to his knees as his arms supported his weight. Blood dripped readily onto the clean marble floor as he panted, staining it red. The Hulk reverted back to Bruce, who was unconscious.

“Steve!” Tony disengaged the Hulkbuster armor came blasting towards Steve as Steve catch his breath.

“Stay where you are Tony Stark.”

Out of nowhere, more than 10 HYDRA soldiers appeared. Three surrounded Steve as they clicked their gun barrels against Steve’s head.

“Come out of your armor. Unless you want a bullet in your beloved Steve Rogers’ head.”

Obviously, Steve had exerted himself too much to even move an inch right now. Tony couldn’t make any moves right now without risking the HYDRA agent shooting Steve. “Alright alright.” Tony disengaged his Mark XLII armor as he knelt on the floor with both hands above his head.

“Good.” One of the HYDRA agents produced a syringe from his utility belt and plunging the clear substance into Steve’s neck. Steve fully plopped down onto the floor, nose still bleeding onto the marble floor. Unconscious from whatever the HYDRA agent gave him.

“STEVE!” Tony bellowed, wanting to run forward until he felt a gun against his head. “What does HYDRA want with him?!”

“It’s obvious. I bet you would have figured it out by now.” The gun barrel clicked next to his ear. “The rest of the Avengers shouldn’t have left the three of you alone in that building. Consider this as a warning message to the others if you followed.”

The shot rang out. Pain blossomed in his stomach and the floor approached closer as he fell to the side. Another shot rang out, this time in his right arm. His vision tunneled, as darkness enveloped the edges.

“Steve… no…” Tony whispered as he saw multiple HYDRA agents picking up Steve and shoveling him roughly into the nearby van. Then darkness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here comes a new update:D  
> Sorry for the long update, now updates may most likely take place once a week if possible.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter has not been proof read. Sorry for grammatical, spelling errors or sentences that doesn't make sense in advance >.<

**_Chapter 5_ **

"There's no sign of HYDRA or the van anywhere?" Bruce questioned Hill, who silently approached, sucking in a shaky breath as he continued to stare aimlessly at his shoes. Beads of sweat still evident on his head suffering from the after-effects of the unexpected transformation.

It's not an everyday sight to spot the whole team of Avengers in a particular hallway of the hospital. Sam was silently pacing around the same spot back and forth. Clint sitting down on the pathetic, hard plastic chairs leaning his head against the wall with his eyes closed, arms crossed. Bucky sat on the floor; face hidden between his arms as it draped over his knees with his back against the wall. Natasha with arms crossed and leaned against the wall, face blank with worry. They all had received a distress call from Tony just barely half an hour ago; all of them still in their battle gear as they waited in grief, fear and guilt.

No news had come from the doctors attending their friend for almost an hour now, and with their captain's whereabouts currently unknown, all they can do is grind their teeth and painfully wait for news.

The stained red, white and blue shield that was left behind where Steve and Tony was ambushed, now cleaned and polished, leaned soundlessly against the wall between Clint and Bucky.

"We shouldn't have split the team up. Who knows, things may have turned out differently if we were here." Natasha muttered, sliding down against the wall as she sat down next to Bucky. “Admit it, we were too late. Now Steve’s gone and Tony is in that condition.”

"What's happened has already happened Nat. We can't change that fact.” Bucky addressed; voice strained. “Has anyone contacted Ms Potts?"

"Pepper is on her way back right now, she will be reaching soon." Hill answered. "There are no witness reports of HYDRA's van or Steve anywhere. Even using our current technology we have on hand, there are no traces left behind."

"How could I have let this happen?" Bruce rubbed his face using his hands. "It's all my fault. If I have controlled…"

"It's not your fault Bruce." Clint defended, head leaving the wall as he turned to face Bruce.

"You can't blame yourself. You have to blame that red witch for tinkering with your mind and making you lose control." Sam stopped pacing next to Bruce, as he took the vacant seat next to him.

"We had the whole floor of the hospital authorized to your team only." Hill filled in, arm holding on to her tablet, looking grim.

There's STRIKE team members, personally vetted by Steve and Natasha, patrolling the entire floor of the hospital Avengers frequent in NYC in cases where Bruce or Helen Cho was unable to treat the team.

Hill sucked in a breath as she continued quietly. "The news is loving you guys. With Captain America displaying new powers that they have not seen before, Hulk rampage and Iron Man lying in a pool of his own blood, the public is demanding for answers. There's not yet any official public announcements calling for Bruce's arrest, but it is in the air."

“No luck contacting the two Asgardians?” Sam questioned.

“No.” Hill shook her head. “Hopefully those two have better luck than us. We don’t know what HYDRA will do to Steve. For now, Fury and I are going to do the best to track down Steve's location. Contact me when there are updates of Tony’s condition. Stay here and protect Tony.” Hill heels clacks echoed along the dimmed quiet hallway of the hospital as she disappeared.

After Hill’s departure, the team spent countless minutes sitting in silence. Finally, the red light of the operating theatre clicked off, but not as dramatic as the dramas portray. Dr Claire, a doctor who has the experience dealing with unique physiology of the team and usually cooperates with the team, walked out of the door. The rest of the team stood up and lightly crowd around the doctor, minding her personal space, but also anxious to know more about their friend.

“Don’t give me those faces guys. Tony’s fine.” Dr Claire gave a weak smile.

Before anyone can demand for more answers, she raised her hand, stopping them. She gave a sigh. "Tony was shot twice - Abdomen and his upper right arm. Both shots were through-and-through, right arm GSW has no issues and we managed to stitch it up without any problems." She sucked in a breath. "It’s the one shot of the abdomen we were worried about. The bullet pierced through coupled with a great amount of blood loss, and with that amount of blood loss, we were thinking that it may have been a case of AKI.”

Everyone paled considerably, obviously clueless about the medical term she had just blurted out; but it sounds serious to them anyways.

“Like I said…” Dr Claire’s weakly smiled. “He’s out of the woods. There’s no damage to any internal organs. It will hurt like hell for a couple of days, once he has ample rest, he will be back as the annoying Tony Stark he always has been. Don’t tell him that I called him annoying.” Dr Claire stressed the last sentence in an exaggerated whisper.

Everyone started chuckling with shoulders relaxed with relief as the mood brightened up to know at least Tony will be fine.

“We will move him to a private room on this level later after we finished patching him up, and he will be knocked out for the rest of the night. So do me a favor and you guys go cleanup will ya?” Dr Claire continued. “You will have unlimited access to Tony’s room but don’t stress him out. I don’t want to have another incident where he tore his stitches and I must restitch it again. I have other patients to attend to too you know?”

Everyone nodded as they thanked Dr Claire before she left to attend to her other duties.

“At least we know Tony will be safe…” Clint muttered, his smile disappearing into a frown.  
“Yeah. You’re right.” Bucky confirmed, before abruptly turning to leave.

“Wait Bucky. Where are you going?” Natasha pulled his left arm to stop him in his tracks.

“Where else do you think I am going?” Bucky snarled, shrugging his arm free, which Natasha in return held onto even tighter. Bucky snapped into realization of what he did and widened his eyes in surprise and guilt. “Sorry. I didn’t mean for it to come out that harsh.”

“It’s okay. Apology accepted. I understand how you feel right now.” Natasha released his arm and smoothen the creases that she had left on Bucky’s leather jacket in her grip.

“James, I know how you feel right now. Steve is your best friend and you want him to be safe. We get it. You need to know that you are an Avenger now, and in this team, we don’t do things alone.” Sam came forward and squeezed Bucky’s shoulder in a comfortable, reassuring strength. “Steve is our leader, and more importantly, he is our friend too. So, please share with us what you know about HYDRA.”

After a few seconds of pin drop silence, and Bucky’s shoulder relaxed slightly as he gave a heavy sigh. “I know all the hidden HYDRA bases in America.” He turned to look around the empty hallway despite being only the team was present. “This isn’t the place that we talk, we should take it back to the tower’s meeting room.”

“Alright. We should have at least one person to be with Tony at all times.” Bruce suggested.

“I’ll take the first shift. You guys can go back first. Someone can just fill me in later.” Clint volunteered, heading to the nearby washroom to freshen up.

* * *

“Stop doing that.”

“Doing what?”

“Looking like a wounded puppy.”

“I do?”

  
Natasha walked silently towards the single bed in the room as the automatic door slid close. Clint sat up straight as he stretched his sore back on the seat he has been warming for the past two hours. Releasing a strained sigh, he reached forward with his hand to grab the cup containing black coffee from Natasha.

“I have known you for years Clint. I swear, you are like an open book.” Natasha remarked, taking her place on the seat on the other side of the bed as Clint sipped on his cup of coffee. “You are here thinking that it’s because of you, Tony and Steve are in this current situation right now aren’t you?”

Clint hands tightened around the pitiful styrofoam cup filled with hospital-grade coffee as his face remained stoic and emotionless.

“Clint…” Natasha soothe the creases of Tony’s hospital sheets to try to get rid of the little awkwardness of the hospital room setting. “This is not your fault. Hell, Steve made his own decision to save you from being injured.”

“Like Tony said, if I haven’t destroyed the weapon…”

“You actually believed what Tony said? You know Tony, he likes to exaggerate things. Even if the weapon hasn’t been destroyed, it wouldn’t have helped that much.”

“Even if there is a small chance...”

“Small chance? We have the two biggest brains on Earth right now, working on the solution. Scientific part that is. And you know Steve, if he finds out about you blaming yourself, he would have scolded you. He’s the kind that even forgives his enemy that had been trying to kill him merely seconds ago.”

Both stared at the shield that was leaning against the foot of Tony’s bed.

“He’s an Idiot.” Clint crushed his already empty coffee cup in his hand as he turned away from the shield.

“Yeah…” Natasha took a deep breath before sighing. “He is.”

Two of them sat in comfortable silence as minutes passed, looking at Tony sleeping away due to sedatives and painkillers that have been given to him. They both knew Tony had seen Steve being taken away right in front of his eyes. Tony’s brush with death is a warning to the Avengers of what consequences will follow if they had made a rash move. With Steve being their hostage now, and with his new powers getting more unstable as time passes, they can’t afford to make any more mistakes. Who knows what HYDRA will be doing to Steve when he is in their custody. Tony being Tony, they wouldn't be surprised Tony would literally suit up in this condition and fly all over America, run algorithms all night, just to find Steve.

Clint bent backwards over his chair and threw his empty cup into the trash bin next to the door.

“You should head back to the tower and clean up, I’m sure one of them will fill you in on what’s our next move.”

“Alright. Thanks Nat. Take care of Tony for us will ya?”

“It will be my genuine pleasure.” Natasha smirked, hands unconsciously sliding towards the hidden pocketknife she in her pants.

“Did you just steal that line from me?” Clint snickered.

Natasha smiled.

* * *

_An hour ago,…_

“I’ll be taking over Clint later on.” Natasha filled in as she plopped down heavily onto the meeting room conference chair, hair still damp from the quick shower she had taken.

“Alright.” Bruce confirmed, fatigue evident in his eyes.

With Steve and Tony currently not being able to fill in the roles of leading the team, Bruce naturally took over as temporarily leader until Tony’s well enough to take over. Part of Steve's _"in case something happens to me"_ protocol. Which happens to take effect quite often. Enemies always have the tendency to take Steve out first be it any means to get rid of any form of leadership the team has.

Even though with no prior experience, slightly socially awkward, as of now, Bruce is currently the one in the meeting room that had the most understanding of the events that had conspired. Of course, when it comes to planning, it’s still up to the team to decide together until Tony had regained consciousness. He's the second-in-command after all.

“Agent Romanoff, incoming transmission from Director Fury from secure channel six.” JARVIS voice appeared. Luckily, JARVIS’s backup system had been able to counter the overwriting most likely attempted by HYDRA and the tower’s defense systems had been rebooted.

“Patch him through." Natasha responded." Also. Note to JARVIS, technically he's not the director of anyone anymore. He's just a spy as of now."

"Acknowledged."

Fury's face appeared in the middle of the meeting room table. Well, only the currently kidnapped Steve would straighten up and sit properly to give Fury the proper respect, the others just relaxed and leaned back on their chairs like a day on the beach.

“I’m here with news. Not really sure it’s a good one or a bad-”

“At this point, how can the situation get any worse?” Sam grumbled, adjusting his position alongside everyone who is more alert now, all lingering fatigue successfully wiped away.

“Before you guys order a strike on me through Stark’s satellite system, listen. We have reasons why SHIELD chose to take this action.”

“Spit it out. As you can tell, it’s late, a lot of shit has happened. Everyone is in a sour mood.” Bucky crossed his arms as he once again leaned heavily against the backrest of the chair, eyes unwavering with the concern and fuming rage that he has been trying to control.

“We managed to track down the tracking chip on Rogers to one of the HYDRA bases.”

“How is it a bad thing? Isn’t that a good thing?” Pepper questioned, crossing her legs and arms. “I thought Tony had installed a tracking device on all of your uniforms?”

“That’s the thing Pep.” Natasha pointed out. “Steve’s uniform is currently still in the building. It got cut off by Bruce nearly a week ago when Steve got injured with the special scissors. It hasn't got repaired as Tony and Bruce were busy solving the serum mutation.”

“Wait. Hold on for a second, that means Steve didn’t wear his uniform when he went out to NYC to help? Then what was he wearing?” Bucky said, sipping his third cup of coffee within one hour.

“I’ll be able to answer that question.” JARVIS mechanical voice piped out, as a photo appeared in front of the screen with Steve donning his usual white shirt with navy-blue windbreaker and sweatpants. “Captain Rogers had hastily put on his windbreaker and a pair of sports shoes after convincing sir that he should follow along instead of staying in the building. Captain Rogers believed it was a wise decision to tag along instead of staying inside the building with the defense systems offline.”

Clearing his throat, Bucky adjusted his position on his chair. “Ok JARVIS, you didn’t have to answer that rhetorical question. But thanks.”

“With pleasure.” JARVIS replied, with a hint of sarcasm evident behind the voice.

“Back to topic, how did Hill and you manage to track down Steve’s location?” Bruce questioned.

“You didn’t just take the blood sample only, didn’t you?” Natasha blurted out, eyes already glaring daggers. If looks could kill, Fury would have been dead a million times over now.

Everyone’s eyes widened as they finally understood Natasha’s change in attitude and pieced the pieces of the puzzle together.

“Yes. It’s what exactly you lot are thinking.” Fury took in a big breath before continuing. “When Rogers was thawed from the ice, we believed that by putting him in a simulated 1940s environment will be able to ease him into the 21st century by breaking the news of his hibernation slowly. However, some agent then had to fuck up the baseball game broadcast on the radio and he caught that discrepancy. He burst out of the room and ran right into Times Square in a matter of seconds. Because of that, what is left of SHIELD had decided to put a tracking device underneath his skin during his surgery for his injuries he sustained when SHIELD collapsed where we can do it without him knowing. It’s to prevent instances like that from happening again.”

“But that can’t be right.” Bruce blurted out. Everyone turned to the doctor who has been sitting in his chair quietly since the whole call had started. “Steve’s serum rejects any foreign matter that’s in his body. SHIELD can’t have possibly implanted a tracking chip without any form of rejection.”

“It’s a new technology. Nanotech. Developed by one of our top engineers in SHIELD. Stark is not the only genius in SHIELD you know. By using nanotechnology, it has a higher chance of evading Steve’s healing properties. We decided to risk that low chance of rejection and implanted it behind his neck deep enough that no one is able to notice it.”

“Even if there is a low chance of rejection, what if Steve or Tony had found out about it?” Sam questioned.

“We would have explained to Rogers.”

“That’s not the point!” Pepper stood up, slamming her hands on the table, successfully stunning and shocking everyone. “I can’t believe SHIELD did this to Steve. Taking his blood without him knowing, planting devices into him? He’s a human! Not just some asset. Not some exhibit! Not some toy! He's just a human that volunteered his life to protect his country.”

"Pep…." Natasha whispered.

"Sorry."

"I get it, we had made mistakes along the way. But we are working hard to give the security this world needs.” Fury convinced, his only eye hardened and then closed to take in a deep breath. "Rogers' tracking chip last signal is caught somewhere along the rural areas of Boston."

"That's one of the research bases HYDRA had." Bucky confirmed, already raring to go. "But that can't be right… It was abandoned a few years ago when HYDRA is sending more of their goons into SHIELD."

"And you didn't tell us about SHIELD being HYDRA because…?" Fury asked

"Because then, I was still a brainwashed assassin that nearly killed his own best friend he had since the 1930s."

"Okay then, we agree to go at first light yeah?" Bruce questioned. "Because I am seriously going to crash."

"Where's Thor and Loki in the middle of all of this?" Sam crossed his arms, obviously unhappy about not receiving any call from the two Asgardians.

"We are not sure whether they got our distress signal, but I hope they do." Natasha responded, with face contorted with worry.

* * *

_Looks like I am a tough guy after all…_

Strong smell of antiseptic greeted him as he drifted away from the abyss of unconsciousness into the land of the living. Constant beeping came from beside him; he was glad that someone had turned down the volume of the heart rate monitor beforehand to curb with his expected headache. He must have some serious painkillers on because the stabbing pain he felt before was now just a throbbing pain on his arm and abdomen. A warm hand was on his right hand. Someone’s in the room with him.

Tony opened his eyes, blinking the sedative-induced sleep away as he surveyed his surroundings. A hoodie-covered person was holding his hand, curled next to his hand as it slumped uncomfortably at the edge of the bed. Short blond curls spilled out of the hoodie as the person slept away, unaware that he woke up.

“Steve…?” Tony unconsciously muttered out, voice hoarse from the lack of usage as he tried to clear his dysfunctional throat.

“Tony…?” The sleeping person was successfully woken up by that one word. Sitting up, he blinked to realize that the figure in front of him was not Steve but the one and only Pepper Potts.

“Hey…” Pepper greeted him in a whisper, holding a cup of water with a straw in front of him and helping him to take a few sips of water. The cooling liquid soothe the dry desert in his throat as he greedily takes a few more sips of water before stopping to catch his breath.

“Sorry Pep.” Tony apologized, hesitating to continue his dialogue, as his eyes tore away from Pepper and surveyed himself. “S-Steve… he was taken away… isn’t he?” He finally asked, voice wavering as tears threatened to spill out.

“I’m sorry Tony…” Pepper eyes closed as she shook her head slowly, eyes breaking contact as she fiddled with the blankets on Tony’s bed. “Steve… Steve’s has been taken away.”

“Oh.” Tony replied. That’s his only answer. “I’m useless, aren’t I? I can’t even protect or save the man I love…Fuck.” Tony cursed, hands clenching the bedsheet at the side as his knuckles turn white.

“It’s not your fault Tony.”

“Then tell me whose fault is it?” Tony snapped back, tears finally spilling out from his eyes. “You can be damn sure it’s my fault as I was the only one there, but I can’t stop them!”

“Tony…”

“Where are the others?”

“They are back in Avengers Tower, preparing their next move.” Pepper replied, hands caressing Tony’s right hand as she tried to provide comfort.

“I want in.”

“Tony you can’t be serious.”

“You damn right I am.”

“You are in no condition to fight!”

“I’m have an armor. I have Extremis virus coursing within me too. I’ll be fine.” Tony proceeded to rip off all the sensors and IV needle from his hand.

“Anthony Edward Stark!”

“Yes!?” Tony froze on the spot, stopping what he’s doing, surprised and shocked at his full name being called.

“Getting you stop is one of my biggest failures in my life. I can’t stop you.” Pepper replied, standing up from the chair as she pulled her hoodie hat off from her hair, revealing messy untamed blonde curls. “But you better be damn sure that you’ll come home in one piece.” Pepper went forward and hugged him. “And also… avenge Steve. Bring him back home.”

“I’m sure.” Tony hugged back before breaking the hug and stood up next to the bed. He wavered at first from the sudden change in blood pressure as he held onto the bed railings, however he eventually released his hands and grabbed his phone on the bedside table.

“Hey J, you there babe?”

“Yes sir.”

“Deploy Mark XLIII will ya?”

“But sir. It’s not…”

“JARVIS.”

“Alright. Deploying armor. It will be outside of the hospital entrance.”

“That’s my man.”

Tony turned around to see a worried Pepper glancing at him. He went forward and hugged her. “Don’t worry Pep, I’ll make sure no one gets hurt. We will definitely get Steve back.”

“Okay…” Pepper broke the hug as she smiled weakly. “Looks like someone have to settle your discharge forms after all. Go.”

* * *

“How’s the perimeter Bucky?” Natasha voice vibrated through the inner earpiece in Bucky’s left ear.

“As expected, there are guards around despite it being abandoned years ago.” Bucky responded. “Sam would you like to take out the guards on the left?”

“My genuine pleasure.” Sam ran towards the left.

“Why is everyone stealing my catchphrase?” Clint shot the arrow disabling the hidden camera on the nearby tree. “Come on.”

“Cut the chatter guys.” Bruce reminded, still in the quinjet parked further away from the main base. “Is it Code Green?”

“Not yet.” Natasha urged, taking out two guards out silently. “We are not like Tony, who is all about making grand entrances, we don’t want to just burst in through the main door.” She grunted as she hid two guards head together. “Don’t forget. Steve’s their hostage now. We don’t know what Steve’s current condition is.”

Just then a bright light shot down, burning the trees surrounding it. It’s not just any bright light. It is obvious enough that it is the portal opened by Thor. Thor and Loki have managed to receive details about the mission of infiltrating the base in Boston and made their way here straightaway from wherever they come from. Obviously, they haven’t been told about it being a quiet infiltration and decided to portal literally a few metres away from the main door entrance.

“And so much for not receiving our signal. That blew our secret and swift entrance.” Bucky mused. “Fuck it! Avengers we are busting through the entrance! Bruce stay in the jet! In case we need a doctor for Steve, you are the closest we have as a doctor!”

“Noted. Be careful”

Alarms blared in the base as the whole team assembled at the main entrance door; with the addition of Loki but missing their Captain and Intellect. HYDRA agents greeted with their weapons. Everyone went forward to take out the HYDRA agents with practiced efficiency despite the lack of leadership.

“Great to have you back both of you!” Natasha greeted, throwing two communication devices towards to two Asgardians. Loki was amused that Natasha had the extra communication devices hidden on her. Obviously, she had prepared extra in the event the two Asgardians joined them in the middle of the mission. “I guess Fury had filled you in on what had happened while you are gone?”

“Aye, we apologize for not being here to help out.” Thor replied. “If we were there, Steven would have gotten captured and Anthony will be with us on this mission to retrieve Steven back.”

“Brother, there’s no use to dwell upon something that has already happened.” Loki asserted, as he took out a few HYDRA agents with hand-to-hand combat.

“Am I late to the party?” Classic rock music started playing as a red and gold cladded figure flew through the main entrance. “You guys are mean. I invite you all to my parties all the time, but you didn’t even send me an invitation for this one.”

“I’m having a déjà vu moment right now…” Natasha trailed off as she shot down the approach HYDRA agents and finally snapping back into reality. “Wait. STARK WHY ARE YOU HERE? YOU SHOULD STILL BE IN HOSPITAL!”

“I got discharged.”

“By yourself? I knew that even Pepper can’t keep you occupied.”

“Relax Nat, I have this under control.”

“Do I have to remind you? You were in surgery less than 12 hours ago.”

“Guys, leave this argument for later shall we? You guys should see this.” Clint’s voice reported, with a tint of worry as he cursed right after he finished his sentence.

After taking out the remaining HYDRA agents, the team assembled at Clint’s location deeper into the base. It was one of the secret research rooms located deep in the base. There’s no one there other than unconscious HYDRA agents. No scientists, no Strucker. And definitely no Steve.

Sensors, a pitch-black oxygen mask, IV needles and a single red flashing chip can be seen floating freely in the fluid filled in the abnormally large tank. The top of the tank was left open as a trail of fluid outside the tank stopped abruptly.

“Hey J, do me a favor, analyze the fluid in the tank.”

“It appears to be a fluid similar of that of cryostasis fluid. The temperature of the fluid is currently at -20F and climbing slowly.”

“They are experimenting on Steve now…” Natasha rasping tone, hands over her mouth.

“Are you guys seeing this?” Sam asked, not wanting to believe it.

“Seeing. Still working on believing.” Tony answered.

“Dammit!” A large thumping can be heard from the control panel further right of the tank.

“There’s no data left. Everything has been erased. All gone.” Bruce snarled. “No trace of where they brought Steve. Nothing. They must have known about the tracking device and left it here to trick us into coming here with HYDRA Agents securing the base of nothing to buy time.”

Bruce must have come here as fast as possible after the Avengers gave an all clear after doing a sweeping throughout the entire base.

“What do we do now? How can we track down Steve?” Sam questioned.

“There’s one way to find out.” Bucky raised the HYDRA agent nearby that just regained consciousness by his harness and threw him across the floor to the feet of the other Avengers. “Where’s Strucker?”

“You better answer his question.” Natasha suddenly appeared next to the agent, hands on his fingers as she threatened to break it. “If not, you can bid goodbye to your fingers.”

“I REALLY DON’T KNOW! BOSS JUST TOLD US TO STAY BEHIND TO GUARD THE BASE! WE DON’T KNOW WHERE HE TOOK CAPTAIN AMERICA.”

“Who else was here in this room?” Tony asked, faceplate lifting, as he bent down to stare the whimpering agent in his eyes.

“Boss, the twins, a couple of scientists.”

“Thank you for your cooperation.” Natasha thanked, releasing his fingers. She then knocked the agent unconscious at the back of the neck as he was busy cradling his fingers.

With no clues to go by, and the realization that Strucker has been experimenting on Steve, the atmosphere turned grim and sullen as the situation settled upon them.

“I hope there are still some data left that can provide us at least some clues to pinpoint where Steve is.”

Tony came out of his armor as he connected his phone to the control panels and started typing some stuff of the control panels. “It’s too early to give up. Come on J. You know what I want.”

“There’s no need to. We will tell you where they went.” A male voice addressed.

Tony stopped typing on the panels as he turned around. Everyone turned around to find the Maximoff twins at the entrance, shirts dirtied.

“We will tell you where they went.” Wanda confirmed, voice hoarse; tear tracks still evident on her cheeks.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for waiting ^.^  
> Sorry for the wait. There will be a short delay of the next chapter because, life as a student... there's always exam. Have a nice day ahead :))


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for not updating so long. T^T  
> Here comes the chapter! Enjoy Reading <3

**_Chapter 6_ **

**_(Before Avengers found out about Steve’s location)_ **

****

Steve drifted back to the surface as his eyes remained closed, taking a situational scan around him as the harsh eye-piercing white light shone directly above him. His hands and legs were immobilised down tightly to something cold and hard stretched below and across his whole body.

It must be the cuffs that was developed by Tony Stark to even keep the Hulk at bay. Since HYDRA was in SHIELD after all, it wasn’t surprising. He just didn’t expect that he would be cuffed by this very cuff again. It’s been a while since he got captured by Rumlow and only managed to escape thanks to Maria.

It’s good that Tony designed cuffs that can keep people that threatens the safety of the world at bay, but when used on the Avengers or people trying to save the world? Not really.

It was quiet. The lights were humming softly above him.

Cautiously, he opened his eyes into thin slits, surveying around him to make sure no one knows he’s awake. There’s IV in his arms, they must have added something into his lines since he can barely feel his body. Right… What are the chances of him escaping by himself?

Firstly, he was immobilised with the very cuffs that was designed by his own lover;

Next, he was drugged by something HYDRA came up with and judging by HYDRA’s track record, it’s definitely not good.

At a _x_ percent chance of success, JARVIS will say that his hope is slim if he’s here. That’s a reason why hope is called hope. Currently, there is no one nearby or inside the room probably in another HYDRA’s secret base in the middle of nowhere. He can try to formulate a plan to escape before anyone discove—

“Confirmed.” A robotic female voice responded as the door swished open.

Well... scratch that. He closed his eyes again.

“Looks who’s finally awake? Took you long enough. You can stop pretending.”

“Who. Are. You?” Steve grunted out as he opened his eyes and struggled while the person donning a lab coat walked towards him.

“I am Dr Frost.” the person continued as he walked around the what it appears to be a metal table he is lying on. “Have been working with Strucker for years.”

“What do you want from me?”

“Don’t bother trying. We improved your boyfriend’s design, there’s no way you can break that cuff.”

“So, you _do_ know who he is.” Steve stopped struggling as he turned his head to the side while glaring at Dr Frost. “Then you know I wouldn’t be here for long!”

“You can continue dreaming, your boyfriend wouldn’t be coming.”

Steve paled. “What did you do to him?!”

Steve squinted his eyes as he concentrated his powers. Streaks of blue appeared in his hands and his irises glow bright blue; similar blue streaks grabbed the sharpened writing tools at the corner of the room he spotted a few mins ago.

Steve threw the tools towards Dr Frost. It was about to hit him until a red energy wall blocked it and fell onto the floor; a figure picked the fallen tools and returned it to its original place.

_Great._

“Thank you, my darlings.”

The Maximoff twins appears next to the “doctor” while Wanda’s eyes were still glowing bright red before dimming back into her natural brown irises. Instead of being shocked by his powers, Dr Frost was smiling widely and _evilly_.

“What are _you_ smiling at?”

“Maybe I’m just happy.”

“That’s not a happy smile. That’s an evil, ‘ _I’ve-got-something-up-my-sleeve’_ smile.”

“How’s this?”

“That’s the exact same smile.”

“No, it isn’t.”

“Yes, it is.”

Steve grunted in frustration as he lay back down onto the cold, hard surface. Unknowingly, a ball of blue energy went hurtling from his hands and towards Dr Frost. As expected, red energy field stopped it with a grunt from Wanda.

Dr Frost laughed in amusement as he squatted down to Steve’s eye level.

“Ergokinesis… I didn’t expect that DNA altering nanovirus to work so well.” He smiled, eyes widened in awe as he scanned Steve from top to bottom.  
“It _was_ _you_ who developed that weapon... What did you do to me?”

“HYDRA has always been working on developing the Super Soldier Serum to create our own super soldiers.” Dr Frost stood up straight and walked away from the table. “The blood samples donated by you before you decided to become an icicle was reverse-engineered by Howard Stark. We stole it, sending him and his wife to the grave. And we had five more super soldiers at our disposal.”

“You killed Howard…?” Steve’s eyes widened in shock. “You—”

“But then, the serum that was rediscovered by Stark had withdrawal effects. These decades, we have been working secretly in SHIELD, without being able to perfect the serum.” Dr Frost continued, placing his bent index finger and carrassed Steve’s face. “That’s until when we found you and thawed you from the ice.”

Steve shuddered and shrugged off his finger with a disgusted grunt. “So SHIELD took my blood.”

“Glad to know you are not that stupid.” Dr Frost grinned, folding his hands behind his back as he his boots echoed on the sterile lab floor, walking towards the twins who had been standing silently nearby since their entrance.

“We HYDRA knew it’s the new era of enhanced individuals.” He unfolded his hands as he gestured towards the emotionless twins. “HYDRA had progressed tremendously in weaponising biology. The secret of the serum was locked in your genetic code. The basic blocks of living things, DNA nucleotides— Adenosine, Thymine, Guanine, Cytosine. By manipulating DNA, it gave your powers. Using elements from the Mind Stone housed in Loki’s staff, we were able to ignore the basic rules of DNA replication.”

“You are sick in your mind! Weaponising Biology instead of saving lives…”

“These two volunteered for our experiment. It worked. We gave them new powers that never dreamt of. A place they belong to. A home.” Dr Frost went on.

“You think this is called home?!” Steve glanced back and forth from the twins and Dr Frost. “You are just using them as puppets! Your pawns to conduct untested theories!” The twins visibly shuddered.

“We gave them a purpose, to get revenge for what happened to their family.” Dr Frost snapped. He sighed. They jerked up straight as Dr Frost placed his hands on their shoulders as if to encourage them.

“SHIELD collapsed.” His hands left the shoulders. “We knew you were a threat. So why not use this technology to our advantage? By removing your serum, we can get rid of America’s beacon of hope, Avengers’ leader. But, what we did not expect this weapon to give you new powers similar to little Wanda here…”

“They are human! They are not some animal for your sick experiments.”

“Yes… Why not you—” Dr Frost squatted down and grabbed Steve’s face roughly with his left hand. “Take their place? _Captain America_.” He whispered into his ear. Breath causing his hair to stand up on his neck. “Your DNA is still changing at this point. You will only get more powerful. Dangerous. Perfect for biotechnology advancement, as well as making you work for HYDRA.”

Steve shrugged off his hand as he tried using his powers again. Only to be stopped by a strange device that was hooked onto his neck in an instant by Dr Frost slip of his hand.

“Nuh uh uh. No powers for now. It’s time for you to take a nap again.”

“Wha—”

Something cold entered through his IV line and he blacked out again.

* * *

Few minutes after Steve was put to sleep, Dr Frost took blood sample before slipping his gloves off. Cracking his knuckles as he walked towards the main lab computers, he grabbed the tablet connected and headed towards the doors. “Keep watch while I go analyse his blood work. No one is allowed to come in without permission. Inform me if anything happens.”

“He is right Pietro… HYDRA is just using us as pawns now.” Wanda whispered as Dr Frost’s figure disappeared behind the sliding doors.

“I know… But you know what we signed up for. We wanted to get revenge for what Stark did to our family.” Pietro grabbed both her hands and kissed her knuckles. “We certainly don’t want to hurt anyone…”

“You know what Frost is going to do him there. He’s going to experiment on him!” Wanda whispered; breath trembling. Wanda’s hands tightened. “I saw what he was going to do. I saw it in his head. He wanted to use Captain America as a weapon to help HYDRA!”

“But we can’t do anything can we? It’s not like we can escape now!” Pietro reasoned. “Damn it… We shouldn’t have helped them capture him in the first place.”

Just then, the doors slid open with a beep and normal lab technician came filing in.

“What are you people doing here?” Pietro asked. “Dr Frost said not to let anyone in.”

“Dr Frost asked us to give him a normal MRI scan to test for any physical development.” A technician replied while the other technicians removed all the cuffs and the special device around his neck.

“It’s hard to imagine that Captain America used to be small, asthmatic 95-pound weakling. He’s so heavy right now.”

“He’s a walking miracle, that’s what they all say.”

“We are going to follow you.” Pietro piped out. Wanda shot him a confused look, eyes back to the usual sharp gaze. Pietro patted her back reassuringly as they followed the technicians.

* * *

“What do you mean there was a tracking device at the back of his neck!?” Strucker slammed the clipboard he had in his hand. Dr Frost frowned, grunting in frustration and folding his arms in front of him

“Yes, there was. I don’t think he knew it himself.” Pietro replied as he held out the metal plate containing the tracking device which is flashing in a soft red in a constant rhythm.

“We believe that whoever planted it knew where he currently is right now. The flashing started a few minutes ago.” Wanda continued.

“WHAT?! Give me one good reason why you haven’t destroyed it right now.” Strucker snapped.

“How about two?” Pietro grinned, gaze sharpening. “One. Pretend we haven’t found the device and let them come to this base, getting him and the key scientists with some guards to another secure base SHIELD don’t have data on.”

“Two. Crash their hopes by showing them their worst fears.” Wanda grinned, eyes flashing red.

“I like it.” Dr Frost smirked. “Looks like I know why only both of you survived the experiments.”

“We will heed your suggestions. I will prepare the transportation. Both of you. Prepare and get ready.” Strucker finished, picking up the clipboard. “Frost, you said the sedatives is not working anymore?”

“Yeah, anymore sedatives introduced into his system will kill him. That’s already taking his enhanced biology into account.”

“You placed him in cryo fluid? How are you able to let him test and control his powers?”

“That’s a question to be solved another day. Right now, we need to stabilise his DNA alteration and prevent Avengers from getting their leader back.” Dr Frost reasoned. “If Avengers get back their leader now, it will jeopardise the whole plan!”

Strucker cleared his throat, eyes darting towards the twins before returning to Dr Frost.

“You two may leave now. Why are you both still here?”

“We will take our leave now.” Wanda replied, dragging her brother by his wrist towards the door.

* * *

**(Returning back to the present, 2 days after)**

“So both of you decided to guard an empty base to slow us down, distract and divert our attention, but in actual reality it is to relay information to us?” Natasha mused.

Wanda nodded, finally calmed down during Pietro’s “storytelling”.

With the lab doors locked and security systems online, the Avengers and the twins gathered in front of the main computer. Before the situation was briefed, Bruce pulled out a set of earplugs and stuffed it into the ears of the HYDRA agent they threatened.

“You have _no idea_ how noisy you guys were after missions. It’s the only way to get peace and quiet to sleep after off the after-effects.” Bruce explained, tying and blindfolding the agent with nearby towels.

“Where’s Steve? Is he okay?” Sam questioned, voice sullen and serious.

“Like I said and you can observe from the tank, Dr Frost and his scientific research crew had him in cryo.” Pietro replied, glancing towards the tank, hands tightening in his pockets.

“Steve…” Tony whispered, hands clutching the silver necklace given by Steve dangling around his neck.

“On the bright side, cryopreservation stabilised the DNA alteration or mutation rate, so Steve’s condition will not deteriorate as fast as before. But…” Bruce admitted, before lowering his head. “It’s Strucker and that sicko, Frost. I wouldn’t be surprised if they found a way to control Steve together with his power and pit him against us.”

“Do you think they would use the same brainwashing technique like mine?” Bucky questioned, physically shuddering as painful memories of the machine came flooding back. Natasha grasped his tightened knuckle before nodding and squeezing reassuringly.

“That is unlikely.” Wanda conferred. “That method of brainwashing will not only destabilise Steve’s mental condition, where his powers is deeply connected to, Strucker may very well also put himself at risk because of how uncontrollable Steve’s powers are.”

“Not to mention, judging by the speed that Steve has been discovering his powers, we can assume that he hasn't tap in the full extension of his powers.” Clint shuddered, shoulders tightening.

“They told us they would be going to the hidden base near Avengers Tower in New York City.”

“So HYDRA has a base in New York City? Right under our noses all along?” Clint snarled, hands unconsciously reaching towards the collapsed bow on his back.

Silence was observed for a few seconds before Tony got up with a grunt and started walking the main computers.

“J, are you able to obtain any medical information on Steve by HYDRA?”

“Sorry sir, the information previously in this database have been completely erased and overwritten with other redundant information. For your amusement, one such data quoted ‘Haha suck my dick Stark!’ in the base.” JARVIS ended with an uncharacteristic provocation. “Most likely by Strucker.” he added.

The others present in the room snickered before stopping after Tony shooting them a glare.

“Guys do I have to mention? I already have Steve’s every night.” Tony commented sarcastically. “Remind me to chop off Strucker’s once this boils over.”

“Tony chill.” Bruce squeezing Tony’s right bicep, only to retract away when Tony’s breathing hitched.

“Anthony… your wound reopened.” Thor pointed out.

“Thanks for pointing out the obvious Goldilocks.” Tony retorted, hands grabbing his bicep.  
“My brother is only concerned for your wellbeing.” Loki cautioned. “You don’t have to be that snappy. You are not the only one that is worried about the Captain’s condition.”

“Okay, is anyone feeling the chills I feel when Loki displays concern?” Tony remarked.

“It’s okay brother.” Thor comforted.

“Tony, you should really just stay in Avengers Tower and heal.” Natasha pointed out. “You discharged _yourself_ merely hours after your surgery. With the twins on board, Loki and Thor back from Asgard, we can handle this ourselves and get Steve back.”

“No. I want—” Tony hissed as Bruce tightened a towel around his bicep. “to save Steve too.”

“Then you can do that by staying in the Tower, you will just be slowing the team down.” Loki criticised.

“Brother!”

“No! He has to hear this!” Loki retorted. “What good do you think you can do when you are injured? Instead of fighting in the front lines, you can stay back and help to solve the mutation problem with Banner.”

Others were completely speechless by Loki’s outburst and obvious concern.

“Wow. Tony, I know what you mean now.” Sam commented, clearing his throat as Bucky jabbed him on his side. “No, what I mean is that I agree with Loki and Natasha. You should rest, while at it, figure out how to help Steve with Banner.”

“Steve need both of your big brains to turn him back to normal.” Clint justified, nodding towards Bruce, Bruce smiled sadly back.

“I know he’s very important to you. We’re sorry that we helped capture him in the first place.” Wanda whispered. Pietro side hugged Wanda, hands squeezing her bicep. “I-I… didn’t know what HYDRA’s is going to do with him until I read his mind.”

Tony sighed.

“Alright… you guys are right…” Tony stood up, wavering before finding his balance again. “Bruce and I will try to find out how to stop the mutation with whatever data we have before Steve was taken.”

“AH!” Pietro exclaimed. Successfully shocking everyone.

“WHAT?” “HUH?”

Pietro took off his shoe, before removing opening the secret compartment that was hidden in the sole of the running shoes he was wearing. Others, with the exception of Wanda, stared in amusement and confusion, as Pietro wore his shoe, unlocked the lab doors, disappearing into the base, returning back to the lab and ran to the group with a tablet after engaging the locks again. Pietro passed the tablet to Tony who unconsciously muttered a “thank you”.

“I managed to sneakily transfer the medical information of Rogers when they were preparing him for the transport. It was encrypted, so only HYDRA-issued tablets are able to decrypt it without running the risk of deleting the information.”

“Thank you…” Tony whispered, eyes softening and smiled. He cleared his throat before his usual smirk returned “But you know, I am Tony Stark. I can decrypt it without much of a problem.”

“Yeah. Blah blah blah.” Clint interrupted, dismissing Tony’s gloat with a wave of his hand. “The rest of us move out. Let’s get our Captain back. Bruce, make sure Tony doesn’t do anything else stupid.”

“Hey!”

“Wanda and Pietro should come with us.” Bruce advised. “Both of you shouldn’t let HYDRA know you are helping us.”

“No. I’m going.”

“Wanda…”

“We let this happened. It’s our fault. We realised our mistake and we should fix it. We are not part of HYDRA anymore.” Wanda retorted, staring at her brother. “Please. Come on.”

“Alright… Geez, stop using your puppy eyes on me.” Pietro hesitated; annoyance visible on his face before softening into a determined smile.

* * *

“Confirmed.” The doors beeped open.

“Frost, how’s our subject?” Strucker asked as he strolled through the lab doors.

“I can’t stop the DNA alteration at all. It’s only slowing down thanks to the cryo. Thank God this is how biology is. Cells stop DNA replication and most of the biological processes at abnormally low temperatures.”

“So, no good news at all?”

“If you consider this to be good news, Rogers have powers similar to Wanda, but in addition to that, he developed ergokinesis.”

“Speak English.”

“Ability to control energy. As long as he adheres to the laws of energy, all forms of energy, be it chemical, even lightning and electricity will be at his disposal.”

“Good… It’s not like he will work with us. It’s Captain America we are talking about. You find a way to control him. Be it any means. As long as he or it doesn’t kill us in the process.”

“One of the technicians discovered a possible way to have him under control.”

“Then make it happen.”

“The powers he has similar to Wanda is unstable. His brain waves are abnormal to those who are placed in cryopreservation. It’s as if he can read our minds even if he’s asleep.”

“We can’t exactly _not_ be in this lab, can we? Leave it. What can he possibly do in a cryo tank?”

“But he’s Captain America.”

“Then instead of pointing it out. Do _something_.”

“Noted.”

* * *

He’s crazy.

A storm is approaching. Strong winds hurling against his face as his golden blond curls danced in the wind.

Voices flooded his head with no way to make it stop. He curled up on the invisible floor as he hugged his knees. The feeling of helplessness and confusion assaulted him as tears rolled off his cheeks.

He’s alone.

He can let down the mantle he had been holding. The weight of expectations, the weight of not failing, the relentless weight on his shoulders that he had been barely able to hold; being released where no one is around.

He was afraid to be alone after losing everyone from the past. But being alone is not bad at all. Afterall, he can be Steve again.

_This can control him. Nice work. Let’s make it happen._

He’s not going to be Steve or Captain America any more. Just a pawn to be used against all that he had been trying to protect and uphold to. He only can watch it happen with no idea how to fight it off.

More voices flooded his head. He curled into himself as the temperature dropped, clutching his head with his hands.

_Captain America at HYDRA’s disposal. I have never been so happy all my life._

_Avengers took my family away from me. Let’s see what if we take their friend away from them._

He shuddered. But then, images of the time spent with the team floated out to the edge of his mind, as he relaxes and smiled at the memories. The wind let up as the temperature increased slightly.

“My family hasn’t given up on me yet…”

The time he spent with Tony, the promises they made. The promise to never leave each other, the promise to share the burdens, the love and trust between them.

“Tony…” Hands absentmindedly went towards his neck to the non-existent necklace.

HYDRA did something to Tony. He’s not here with him anymore. He lost his loved one again.

The freezing winds came assaulting at full force again. HYDRA took Tony away from him. Just like his hopes.

Only his family can help him now, but they can’t fill the void.

_Guys…_ He hugged himself tighter as he can’t stop the tears from falling. _Help me..._

* * *

“Dammit.” Bruce grumbled as he rubbed his face with both hands after glancing at the computers. “Steve’s condition is worse than I thought only after the course of one day.”

“Steve…” Tony whispered.

“If only we have his current blood samples. _But no_. We don’t. All we have. Are this digital information. What can we do?” Tony proclaimed, laughing at how ridiculous the situation is.

“JARVIS can run a digital simulation.” Bruce consoled. “It’s better than running on nothing. If Pietro didn’t give us this information, no matter how outdated it may be, we wouldn’t have a basis to hold onto.”

“You’re right. Steve is counting on us.” Tony contemplated. “We can’t give up now. Sorry. It’s just, it’s Steve.”

“I know. But Steve has the whole team behind him.” Bruce patted his back gently. “Steve should learn how to let go of the weight of the world on his shoulders and share it with us. Not just you. We are a family now. None of us are going to let HYDRA get away with this after what they had done to our baby brother.”

“Thanks Bruce…” Tony whispered, turning around to meet Bruce’s gaze. “For everything.”

Bruce patted his back a few times before diverting his attention back to the lab computers.

“If only we have his uncorrupted blood with the original super soldier serum…” Bruce muttered.

“That’s it!” Tony exclaimed.

“What’s _it_?”

“Oh my god how can we be so dumb… We have a walking original sample next to us all this time.”

“I lost you. What do you mean—”

Tony shot him a smirk before Bruce’s eyes widened in realisation.

“Buck?”

“Yes! HYDRA gave him the super soldier serum back in the 1940s when they experimented on him. That’s how he is able to survive cryopreservation for so long! Like Steve!”

“We should ask Buck to come back to the lab right now so we can develop an edge for Steve’s serum to fight back the nanovirus.”

“Like a vaccination? Good idea! This may be our best chance yet.”

“J. Patch me through to—”

“Tony! Bruce! Come in! Can hear me?”

“Nat! Yes. We hear you loud and clear! What happened?”

“Steve’s not here! The base is empty!”

“What you mean _empty?_ ”

“Exactly what I meant Stark! Strucker and Frost knew Wanda and Pietro will defy their orders, they went to another base. With Steve!”

Bruce and Tony stared at each other.

_Steve…_

* * *

Stony: Making Pancakes (Throwback to Chapter 1 :D) 

New art by Seclinette on DevianArt.

Thank you for your lovely artwork. Love you <3

Follow her on DevianArt for more of her awesome artwork!!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Story is now on Wattpad! There will be updates at least once every two weeks :D  
> Hope you enjoy reading my story so far.


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